In the name of early detection, millions of women line up each year for a procedure they’ve been told is lifesaving: the mammogram.

1. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬

• Up to 50–60% of women will have a false positive at some point after 10 years of annual mammograms.

• This can lead to:

– Unnecessary anxiety or panic

– Repeat mammograms and additional radiation

– Invasive biopsies that may have never been needed

– Emotional trauma from being told you “might have cancer”

Women are often rushed into procedures before full analysis or support is offered, and this fear-based model erodes trust in the body’s own healing intelligence.

2. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 (𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬)

• Women with dense breast tissue — a large percentage of younger, thinner, or hormonally active women — are up to 6x more likely to have a cancer missed by mammogram.

• On a mammogram, dense tissue and tumors both appear white, making it hard to distinguish between normal fibroglandular tissue and dangerous growths.

• Shockingly, many women are never informed of their breast density, even though this dramatically reduces the sensitivity of the test.

 As a result, women walk away with false reassurance — or unnecessary fear.

3. 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐬

• Mammograms often detect non-aggressive lesions like:

– DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), often labeled “stage 0”

– Small calcifications or fibrous nodules that never progress

• These may never cause harm, yet many women undergo:

– Chemotherapy

– Radiation

– Mastectomy

– Hormonal suppression therapy

• This phenomenon is called overdiagnosis — and some studies estimate that 20–40% of all mammogram-detected cancers fall into this category.

 This means many women are aggressively treated for “cancer” that might never have grown, spread, or harmed them.

4. 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞

• Each mammogram delivers a small dose of ionizing radiation — equivalent to about 2 months of natural background radiation.

• But over decades of annual screening, this accumulates — and can actually increase lifetime cancer risk, especially in younger women or those with BRCA mutations.

• Ionizing radiation is a Class 1 carcinogen, and is known to damage DNA, generate free radicals, and increase oxidative stress — especially in delicate glandular breast tissue.

 This cumulative radiation exposure is rarely discussed in detail by practitioners.

 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐒 𝐃𝐎𝐍’𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖