Brussels, 27/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is undertaking action to combat breast cancer and is concerned with the quality of screening, explained the Commissioner for Health, Vytenis Andriukaitis. The Commission's response on 21 August follows a written question from Dominique Bilde MEP (ENF, France).
In her question submitted on 2 July, Bilde mentioned the risk of “over-diagnosis” when undergoing mammography breast cancer screening promoted by some experts, although the European Parliament has advocated the introduction of these kinds of screening programmes on several occasions. Bilde has therefore called on the Commission to clarify its position with regard to the risks and what measures it intends to take to effectively fight against breast cancer.
Commissioner Andriukaitis pointed out in his written response that the Commission supported member states in the implementation of breast cancer screening programmes and that in 2013 it had published two supplements to the fourth edition of the European guidelines for guaranteeing the quality of breast cancer screening and diagnosis, given the rapid development of digital imaging in mammography. Commissioner Andriukaitis added that in 2012 the Commission's Joint Research Centre was developing a new edition of European guidelines for screening and diagnosing breast cancer, which would include a minimum raft of requirements on the quality of screening services in countries that are participating in this initiative. (Isabelle Lamberty)