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Al's Morning Meeting

Home > Reporting, Writing & Editing > Al's Morning Meeting
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Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


*1. StinkyJournalism.org's "Dubious Polling" Awards list is worth a read.

*2. Find out why a six-hour flight now takes seven. Airlines are "baking in" extra time to make up for long delays.

*3. Check out RTDNA's News and Terrorism workshop chat site.

4. BusinessWeek has highlighted big corporations that are pouring millions into Haiti relief.

5. Amazing: how phone apps helped save a man's life after he was buried by the Haiti earthquake.

6. The New York Times explains how cancer-treatment radiation saves lives, and ruins some.

*7. Here are some great databases that newsrooms have created to help connect people with their community.

8. A new study explores the media habits of teens.

9. The pros and cons of evangelizing on Facebook.

10. The FCC investigates the health and future of local news.

11. Brookings assesses Obama's first year in office

12. Why you better be careful when covering 100th birthdays!

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer: Hype or Hope?
My friend, medical ethicist Art Caplan, has published a provocative piece that opens this way:

Fear of breast cancer has created a tempting market for companies to sell genetic testing directly to consumers. The disease kills 40,000 people a year in the U.S., with an estimated 212,920 new cases diagnosed in 2007, according to the Mayo Clinic. It’s no wonder women would want a reliable gauge of their risk. However, American women should be aware that genetic tests for breast cancer are more hype than real hope.

The column comes after an Icelandic company said this week that it would start selling tests for less than $2,000 that would help women understand the breast cancer risks they face based on their DNA.

 Caplan says:

Contrary to the marketing messages, only women who have a strong family history of breast cancer -- two or more parents, grandparents or siblings who have developed the disease -- need to talk to their doctor or a genetic counselor about the value of any form of genetic testing.

Here are the Web sites for the two companies that Caplan mentions by name.
The National Cancer Institute Web site

The Mayo Clinic article on genetic testing for breast cancer risk says:

Out of the 212,920 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the United States last year, only 10,000 to 20,000 cases were inherited -- and only a fraction of those were linked to BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. This small number means that for the majority of women who develop breast cancer, the cancer occurs sporadically and isn't caused by hereditary factors.

The picture changes if two or more of your first-degree relatives -- parents, siblings, children, or one of each -- have developed breast or ovarian cancer. In that case, genetic counseling is recommended.
Posted at 11:00 AM on Oct. 13, 2008
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