Table of Contents
FDA Consumer magazine
September-October 2000
As a breast cancer survivor I was saddened to read the article on saline breast implants which appeared in the July-August 2000 issue of FDA Consumer. The title itself casts a shadow on the issue even before the reader can continue to evaluate the information contained in the article, "Saline Breast Implants--Stay on the Market as Experts Warn About Risks." The title alone does a disservice to the issue and to the unfortunate one out of eight women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Most women are terrified when diagnosed with breast cancer. The additional threat of the risks of implants only adds to the devastating blow of losing a breast. Breast reconstruction holds out hope for mastectomy patients--the hope of one day looking normal.
The author does state that " ... after breast cancer surgery, (women with breast implants) reported that they had experienced significant improvement in the quality of their lives." Could the author have said a little more about the positive psychological impact of knowing you will live your life after breast cancer surgery with more than just scars?
I have always been grateful to have had the hope from the day of diagnosis that I would someday look "normal." I ask that you please consider your audience before you quote the "experts."
Eileen Rhoads
Silver Spring, Md.
In the July-August 2000 issue of FDA Consumer, the article "Overcoming Juvenile Diabetes With a Little Planning and High-Tech Tools" claimed that "More than 400,000 new cases (of Type 1 diabetes) are reported ... in the United States each year. And more than 1 million Americans currently live with the condition."
If these figures were correct, people with Type 1 diabetes would have an exceedingly short life expectancy after diagnosis. In fact, the numbers reported in the article are not accurate. According to the Juvenile Diabetes Association (JDF), the number of new cases reported each year is about 30,000. And according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the number of Americans living with Type 1 diabetes is estimated to be between 500,000 and 1 million.
Using the figures of the JDF and the ADA, one arrives at a slightly more hopeful life expectancy, but still one that reflects the seriousness of managing a chronic disease that affects a significant portion of the American population.
Except for the arithmetic, the article was commendable. Our compliments to the author for an otherwise accurate and well-reported article.
James Hazlett
Editor
Diabetes Self-Management magazine
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