The current mammogram screening program in many B.C. communities including the Lower Mainland is inadequate for nearly 50% of women whose breasts are made of dense tissue. Alberta, on the other hand, provides the necessary and supplementary screening needed through ultrasound or other methods.

Women with dense breast tissue can be of any age and some are young. They are four to five times more likely to develop breast cancer than women with low breast density (Source: Breast Cancer Foundation NZ). 

These women are your friends, daughters, mothers and wives. Yet they are not receiving adequate screening since dense breast tissue appears white on a mammogram just like cancer. Dense breast tissue masks cancer and increases the chance of a late diagnosis followed by excruciating treatments needed to treat an advanced disease. Hence, the additional screening needed.

For this reason, all women in B.C. absolutely need and deserve supplemental screening, just like women get in Alberta. 

By signing this petition, you demand the Ministry of Health of British Columbia to mandate supplemental screening methods for women with dense breasts. The technology exists, let's use it!  Late diagnosis of breast cancer is traumatic for entire families, and often has difficult and poor outcomes.  Please sign this petition today.