{"id":1727,"date":"2012-02-03T12:39:05","date_gmt":"2012-02-03T17:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2012-12-03T17:14:11","modified_gmt":"2012-12-03T22:14:11","slug":"komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html","title":{"rendered":"Komen Concedes (but it still sucks)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Komen spent the last two days reaping a financial windfall from pro-life activists, after they pulled their funding for Planned Parenthood. \u00a0(Planned Parenthood had a funding surge, too, prompting a friend of mine to say the whole thing felt like a publicity stunt, or a pro-wrestling storyline). \u00a0Now, Komen has purged its new policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But before any pro-choice readers I\u2019ve got decide to put the money where their mouths are, let me make a plea that you not give Komen any of your money. \u00a0Not even as a thank you for the reversal. \u00a0I agree with all the criticisms Simcha Fischer made<\/a> back when Komen was on her side (they brand a lot of things, so people feel like they\u2019ve made a difference by buying a pink Glock<\/a> when only pennies of your purchase go towards research, they pressure women to be a happy face of cancer, etc).<\/p>\n

But, since I\u2019m a big epidemiology nerd, that\u2019s not my real objection. \u00a0I don\u2019t like Komen because they\u2019ve tried to subvert the FDA\u2019s recommendations on mammograms<\/a>. \u00a0A panel of experts reviewed the data and said that, for women under 50 with no know risk factors for breast cancer, regular\u00a0mammography\u00a0does more harm than good. \u00a0Komen and others struck back with personal\u00a0testimonies\u00a0from women in this demographic who had found cancer through screening.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The stories were touching, but the plural of anecdote is not data. \u00a0It can be hard to wire the actual facts into your intuitions, so here\u2019s a helpful story, to retrain your brain. \u00a0The numbers in this example (from David Newman, a director of clinical research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine<\/a>) are about prostate cancer screening, but the gist goes for breast cancer as well:<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine you are one of 100 men in a room,\u201d he says. \u201cSeventeen of you will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and three are destined to die from it. But nobody knows which ones.\u201d Now imagine there is a man wearing a white coat on the other side of the door. In his hand are 17 pills, one of which will save the life of one of the men with prostate cancer. \u201cYou\u2019d probably want to invite him into the room to deliver the pill, wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d Newman says.<\/p>\n

Statistics for the effects of P.S.A. testing are often represented this way \u2014 only in terms of possible benefit. But Newman says that to completely convey the P.S.A. screening story, you have to extend the metaphor. After handing out the pills, the man in the white coat randomly shoots one of the 17 men dead. Then he shoots 10 more in the groin, leaving them impotent or incontinent.<\/p>\n

Newman pauses. \u201cNow would you open that door?\u201d He argues that the only way to measure any screening test or treatment accurately is to examine overall mortality. That means researchers must look not just at the number of deaths from the disease but also at the number of deaths caused by treatment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you care about women\u2019s health, don\u2019t<\/em> give to Komen. \u00a0Give to Planned Parenthood<\/a>, if you\u2019re going for the political statement (I did). \u00a0And no matter you\u2019re beliefs on abortion, consider giving to Against Malaria Foundation<\/a> (well reviewed by GiveWell<\/a>)\u00a0if you want to fund a great organization truly\u00a0committed\u00a0to health (and data!).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Komen spent the last two days reaping a financial windfall from pro-life activists, after they pulled their funding for Planned Parenthood. \u00a0(Planned Parenthood had a funding surge, too, prompting a friend of mine to say the whole thing felt like a publicity stunt, or a pro-wrestling storyline). \u00a0Now, Komen has purged its new policy. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,20],"class_list":["post-1727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-healthmedicine","tag-statistics"],"yoast_head":"\nKomen Concedes (but it still sucks)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Komen spent the last two days reaping a financial windfall from pro-life activists, after they pulled their funding for Planned Parenthood. \u00a0(Planned\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Komen Concedes (but it still sucks)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Komen spent the last two days reaping a financial windfall from pro-life activists, after they pulled their funding for Planned Parenthood. \u00a0(Planned\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-03T17:39:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-03T22:14:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/files\/2012\/02\/bucket-for-cure.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html\",\"name\":\"Komen Concedes (but it still sucks)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-03T17:39:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-03T22:14:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"Komen spent the last two days reaping a financial windfall from pro-life activists, after they pulled their funding for Planned Parenthood. \u00a0(Planned\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/komen-concedes-but-it-still-sucks.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Komen Concedes (but it still sucks)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. 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