Sir, - Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, April 1st) suggests that spending money on screening women for breast cancer does not make sense.
In support of his views Mr Myers cites a Swedish study which has been declared "defective" by the director and deputy director general of the Centre for Epidemiology, National Board for Health and Welfare, Stockholm. In a letter in the British Medical Journal of March 20th, 1999, they write: "The Swedish study has many limitations and fallacies and should not be considered seriously . . . Half of the study population was diagnosed with breast cancer before the screening programmes started. These patients obviously could not have benefitted from the screening programme." They also suggest that the paper would not have been accepted for publication in a major peer reviewed journal such as the BMJ.
Women will have to decide whether or not to accept the invitation to be screened, but they should not let the results of the Swedish study influence that decision. - Yours, etc., Brenda Wheeler,
Crannagh Road, Dublin 14.