Suffering an epidemic of Prostate Cancer, now all men are to be denied universal screening

Suffering an epidemic of Prostate Cancer, now all men are to be denied universal screening

After decades of a prostate cancer epidemic and a refusal to screen Black men, who suffer a 60% higher incidence than White men, the highest in the industrialized world, physicians are now advocating refusal to screen ALL men.

The American Cancer Society writes, “Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the US. It’s also the second leading cause of cancer death. About 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime.” Knowing these facts about the cancer epidemic, The American Family Physician (AFP) has just published an editorial that calls on physicians to STOP screening men for prostate cancer. “Rather than treating the PSA (prostate specific antigen) as an elective test…primary care physicians should go back to discouraging its use.” https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2025/0100.html

The 2018 US Preventative Services Task Force stated, “Screening offers a small potential benefit of reducing the chance of death from prostate cancer in some men.” https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/prostate-cancer-screening

“More aggressive screening strategies particularly those that use a lower PSA threshold …., provide the greatest potential reduction in death from prostate cancer.”

A report in the respected New England Journal of Medicine in 2020 reported that the benefit of PSA screening …“is qualitatively similar to recommendations supporting breast cancer screening,”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7491201/

While acknowledging that PSA screening saves lives the USPSTF does NOT call for universal screening for prostate cancer. The National Cancer Institute, 4/10/19, The American Cancer Society 3/11/16, and the American College of Physicians, 4/9/13, none of these organizations call for universal prostate cancer screening.

Now the AFP opines that ALL men should be denied screening. In face of a cancer epidemic screening tests should be improved not discouraged, and denied.

Why is this happening?

Men do NOT get universal prostate screening because of priorities and money.

The PSA test is “a hugely expensive public health disaster”. “As Congress searches for ways to cut costs in our health care system, a significant savings could come from changing the way the antigen is used to screen for prostate cancer.” “Americans waste an enormous amount of money on an inaccurate test for prostate cancer.

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/10Ablin.html



The political priorities are obvious: Trillions of dollars in tax cuts for corporations and the rich, and trillions in dollars for the military–war machine.
Should we accept the decision to place more value on profits and war than on the people's health and welfare?

Dr. Nayvin Gordon 1/26/25

Gordon writes about politics and health, and his articles have appeared in: The Mercury News, Counterpunch, Z Magazine, Countercurrents, Scoop Independent News, Anderson Valley Advertiser, Socialist Viewpoint, Multiracial Unity Blog, Scientific American, The Oakland Tribune, The Journal of Family Practice, American Family Physician and Dissident Voice, and LA Progressive

He may be reached at gordonnayvin [at] yahoo.com