Looking at Perspectives
The Debate
Opposing the use of mammograms
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Advocating the use of mammograms
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A Consensus
Mammograms are key in reducing the breast cancer mortality rate. The ability of the technology to detect abnormal configurations in breast tissue allows medical practitioners to determine the likeliness of developing or developed cancerous cells.
Because there is a consensus, it can be suggested that medical researchers and practitioners have a humanist side explicitly directed at saving human lives. The agreement that such a form of technology is beneficial in catching cancer in its earliest phases links the two sides in a humanist view that human life is worthwhile and significant. Rhetorically, it is in this strife to continue and improve human existence that the value systems of the pro and con arguers mesh.
Mammograms are key in reducing the breast cancer mortality rate. The ability of the technology to detect abnormal configurations in breast tissue allows medical practitioners to determine the likeliness of developing or developed cancerous cells.
Because there is a consensus, it can be suggested that medical researchers and practitioners have a humanist side explicitly directed at saving human lives. The agreement that such a form of technology is beneficial in catching cancer in its earliest phases links the two sides in a humanist view that human life is worthwhile and significant. Rhetorically, it is in this strife to continue and improve human existence that the value systems of the pro and con arguers mesh.
The Age Question
Much debate around the starting age for mammograms has filled the ears of media hounds and insurance companies. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force has vacillated on their recommendation, primarily between whether women should be in their 40s or 50s. Research has supported both age groups and older, but little has been conducted for women under 40 (Lee 21). However, personal testimonies of breast cancer development in women in their 20s has surfaced. It is in the seeming neglect of these personal testimonies that the question of sufficient research arises: are those who make the recommendations being fair to women who question the need for mammograms and at what age to begin? Speculation of an ending age has also surfaced but has yet to become a hot-button topic in media.
Pre-50?
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50 and up?
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