CONSPIRACY OF HOPE

"Conspiracy of Hope is a devastating critique of the folly of breast cancer screening. Everyone who is at risk of or touched by breast cancer should read Pellerin's meticulously-researched book. Pellerin knows the science better than many of the doctors in whose hands women have placed their trust.”
Brian Goldman, CBC

If you've ever wondered why mammography screening has been the target of fierce debate for 30 years running, read this book! Renée Pellerin's accounting of what went on among scientists, policy-makers, editors, and government agencies, not to mention the public spectacle, exposes how the early detection mantra has always been one-part good intentions, one-part magical thinking, and one-part flimflam. What is has never been, is full-on science. The one-size-fits-all screening paradigm that ruled the hearts and minds of an era rests on false assumptions and cherry-picked data. Yet, the balance of evidence on screening mammography weighs heavily toward lesser benefit and more harm than anyone ever wanted believe. Conspiracy of Hope chronicles that, even today, when confronted with a wealth of research on screening, belief born from hope and perpetuated by vested interests, can be hard to shake.
Gayle Sulik, author of Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women's Health (Oxford, 2012)
For decades, women have been told that mammogram screening saves lives. Too bad it's not true. It's been said that the surest way a woman can increase her chances of getting breast cancer is to go for a mammogram. That's because screening leads to over-diagnosis. Research going back decades has shown over and over that there is little if any benefit to be gained from screening. There is no evidence that it saves lives among women under 50 and the evidence that it might save a few lives in older women is weak. Investigative journalist Renée Pellerin's Conspiracy of Hope reveals how breast screening became medical policy, first in the US, then in most of the developed world, even though there was insufficient scientific evidence to prove any benefit. Today the evidence is starkly clear. Screening does more harm than good. Yet women, and their doctors, continue to buy into a myth perpetuated by greed, fear, and wishful thinking. It will be published in Canada by Gooselane this Fall. I'm attaching the typeset ms here.

Renée Pellerin first encountered the mammogram story when she did a CBC television documentary on the pros and cons of breast screening in 1991. In 2014, the story landed on her desk again, this time because Canadian researchers published a 25-year follow-up of their breast screening study, definitively demonstrating that early detection doesn't work. The Canadians were attacked in the media and in journals across North America and Europe.

Conspiracy of Hope illustrates how a vortex of interests came together to make breast screening standard medical practice and why these organizations refuse to admit they are wrong. The radiologists, the image machinery manufacturers, the pink ribbon charities are all part of that story. It is a tale of back-stabbing and intrigue, of exploiting fear and hope, while distorting and misrepresenting the evidence. Or simply ignoring it.

Renée Pellerin is a former long-time CBC network radio and television producer. Her investigative and consumer health journalism at Marketplace and The Fifth Estate and as executive producer of a CBC Newsworld documentary unit won her international awards. She became head of CBC News's Health Content Unit and has taught journalism at two universities.