The Millionaires Club

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From: Denc 🗡

Second class citizens…

All black men to be offered prostate cancer screening trial
Health Secretary will announce trial but will also accept recommendation to restrict routine screening to tiny minority of men

All black men will be invited to take part in prostate screening trials as part of efforts to expand testing.

James Murray, the Health Secretary, will accept recommendations from advisers to restrict routine screening to just a few thousand men on Tuesday. He will, however, expand a major prostate cancer screening trial so that for the first time, all eligible black men will be invited to take part.

The recommendations to restrict screening caused outrage among charities, prostate specialists and campaigners, with pressure on the new Health Secretary to overrule the advice.

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It fell well short of calls to introduce routine screening for at-risk groups. However, the introduction of the trial suggests ministerial impatience with the caution being shown by their advisers, which many have said is based on outdated research.

The Telegraph is calling for targeted screening so men at the greatest risk are offered tests. But last week the Government’s advisers rejected this, recommending tests should be rationed to “just a few thousand” men.

The UK National Screening Committee (UKNSC) was accused of “condemning thousands to preventable deaths” by ruling that only those with a rare genetic mutation plus specific family history should be eligible.

This meant black men – who run twice the risk of developing prostate cancer and of dying from it – and those with a family history of the disease would not be offered tests.

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Denc 🗡