Fake News: Mammograms Do Not Expose Women To Atomic Bomb-Level Radiations
Written by Odhiambo Shem on April 14, 2023
A video trending online by Dr. Veronique Desaulniers that radiation levels mammograms during breast cancer screening are the same as the atomic bomb radiations are false.
Mammograms are x-rays of the breasts performed as part of cancer screening in order to detect tumors early, before a lump or other symptoms appear.
In the video, which has received more than 7,000 likes, Dr. Desaulniers warns women against the purported dangers of breast cancer screening.
“If a woman follows the 10-year protocol of getting a mammogram every year or every six months, she is getting as much radiation as a woman had at Hiroshima, the atomic bomb if she stood a mile away from the epicenter,” she claims.
According to radiation and mammography expert Edward Hendrick, the radiation from the Hiroshima atomic bomb is 600 times higher than 10 years of annual mammography screening.
He explains that the average dose to the entire body from a digital mammography exam is 0.36 millisieverts (mSv).
“A decade of annual mammography would yield a total radiation dose 10 times that: 3.6 mSv,”
Hendrick says the Hiroshima bombing which killed at least 140,000 people produced a radiation of between 2250-2530 mSv.
This fact check was produced by Sky 106.1 FM
