SUNDAY, May 9, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- The nation's largest private foundation for breast cancer research has launched a campaign to maintain national standards for mammograms.
The campaign by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation comes as the U.S. House of Representatives is considering the reauthorization of the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MSQA).
The act first passed in 1992. Prior to it, there were no national quality standards for mammography personnel or equipment. Image quality and patient exposure to radiation varied widely, and equipment quality was poor, according to the foundation.
Information about the campaign is available at www.ActNowEndBreastCancer.org.
"MQSA is a lifesaving measure, and we need to require Congress that, for the nearly 216,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, early detection can mean the difference between life and death," Diane Balma, the Komen Foundation's director of public policy, said in a prepared statement.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about breast cancer and mammography.
