Doctor backs claims on cancer screening

Press, 31 August 1989, Page 42

Doctor backs claims on cancer screening

PA Dunedin Claims that national screening programmes for cervical cancer cause more harm than good in an article in the British medical journal, the “Lancet,” have received support from an Otago Medical School researcher, Dr Lees Simpson. Dr Simpson, a senior research officer in the pathology department said cervical cancer was relatively uncommon and had to be balanced against other serious health problems. Pressure in New Zealand for a national screening programme had been based on highly emotive arguments. The idea had been embraced by the feminist movement and a female Minister of Health, Ms Clark. Dr Simpson said the Government had announced plans to spend $l4 million on a national screening programme which meant health pro-

fessionals had a vested interest in supporting the scheme.

In the “Lancet” article, Professor James McCormick, from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, said there was no evidence that cervical screening helped to reduce deaths from the disease. It had not been proved that the abnormalities which could be detected at an early stage by a smear test would progress into invasive cancer. Cervical smear tests had harmful effects, with women who had been falsely told they had a positive smear suffering distress and anxiety. There was also a risk of cross infection from devices used to take the smears which had not been sterilised properly. Professor McCormick said women who tested positive ran the risk of being regarded by others as promiscuous because it was widely believed that

the disease was associated with multiple sexual partners.

A senior lecturer in the pathology department and a colposcopist at Dunedin Hospital, Dr Alex Chang, said most doctors now believed that the pre-can-cerous lesions detected in smear tests would lead to cancer if they were left untreated. The only way to prove this was not the case was to treat some women and leave others untreated, something which was clearly unethical. Dr Chang said he supported a national screening programme but believed other health problems should also receive attention. Cervical cancer was responsible for more than 100 deaths in New Zealand each year compared with 550 from breast cancer and 300 for women with lung cancer.

Heart disease killed more than all these cancers combined.