Breast Cancer

Speech by Liz Lynne on Tue 24th Oct 2006

Madam President, I should like to add my thanks to Mrs Jöns for this splendid initiative. She has done a tremendous amount of work on it.

The lifetime risk of developing breast cancer in European women, as we have heard, is one in ten, and it is the biggest killer of women between the ages of 35 to 59, and the second biggest overall. Mr Bowis was absolutely right: we must not forget that although it mainly affects women, one thousand men die of breast cancer each year.

Still not enough is being done by Member States. With advanced screening techniques, it is possible for breast cancer to be identified at an early stage. The European Commission published a new set of guidelines on breast cancer screening and diagnosis in April. They estimated that 32 000 breast cancer deaths across Europe could be prevented. But many Member States do not have technical screening facilities or trained nurses in place. I urge every Member State to sign up to the European guidelines but, more importantly, to implement those guidelines.

We need to do even more in terms of education. Lifestyle, as well as genetics, can apparently affect the likelihood of getting breast cancer. We also need to make sure that those diagnosed with breast cancer are not discriminated against in the workplace, as we have already heard. They should be allowed to continue to work during treatment, if that is what they wish to do; but, if not, to be able to resume their careers afterwards. That should be covered by the 2000 Employment Directive on anti-discrimination in the workplace - we have done that in the United Kingdom. But many Member States do not class breast cancer as a disability, which is why we need a definition of disability. With so many people developing breast cancer, we must get that right.

We must also have an exchange of best practice, particularly as mortality rates vary by 50% between Member States. It is up to us all to keep this high on the political agenda.