Re: [nukkad] Breast Carcinoma. Is there a Male Bias?

[Harshal Chhaya <>]

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Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. 
It's already tomorrow in Australia. - Charles Schulz 
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Arya,

Consider this:

1. Medical procedures have improved dramatically since the 50s and
60s. Problems that needed invasive surgery or even amputations are
now routinely performed under local anesthesia. It is unfair to
claim bias in medical decisions that were made decades ago by comparing
them to today's technology.



2. Breast cancer awareness has spread dramatically in the past decade
or so. This awareness has brought increased funding for research to
the extent that researchers in other areas are feeling sidelined and
underfunded. According to the ALS Interest Group, the funding for breast 
cancer research in the US ($732 million in FYO3) is more than that for 
lung cancer ($297 million for FY03) even though the latter kills more women. 
Prostate cancer, at $408 million for FY 03, lags behind, even though it 
kills about as many men as Breast cancer kills women. 

An interesting fact: The US Dept of Defense has been funding breast
cancer research for the past few years. The Senator who chaired the
Appropriations Committee in the early '90s was sympathetic to the 
cause because he had lost two sisters to the disease. He allocated 
nearly $200 million to research into the disease and the allocation
has continued since. These days the DoD also funds research into 
ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.



> Have you ever stopped to think that in this issue which mainly plagues
> women, there is a heavy, underlying male bias?

If there is any bias, it is in the opposite direction to your implication. 
Any male bias seems to have been very beneficial to the patients of 
this disease.

- 'shal

-- 
 http://www.mumbai-central.com : Where Mumbaikars meet


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