The NHS Cancer Screening Programmes insisted this week that breast screening saved lives, despite recent claims to the contrary by the Cochrane centre.

Julietta Patnick, national coordinator of the NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, said that breast cancer screening “reduces the risk of a woman dying from the disease.” This statement contradicts the findings of a Cochrane review published last month. The Cochrane review concluded that “currently available reliable evidence does not show a survival benefit of mass screening for breast cancer (and the evidence is inconclusive for breast cancer mortality).” The abstract of the …