Despite criticism from leading cancer scientists, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., appears to be continuing to work with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., to move a controversial breast cancer bill through Congress.

Announced in March, the Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young (EARLY) Act would allocate $45 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement a national education campaign to increase breast-cancer awareness among young women.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women under the age of 40. More than 10,000 women in this age category are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States annually (compared with 192,000 cases diagnosed among all age groups). This year, about 40,000 American women — 1,000 in the under-40 age group — will die from the disease.

First, do no harm
With so many women developing this potentially deadly disease, what could possibly be wrong with a breast cancer educational effort aimed at young women?

A great deal, say some experts. Here’s what Leslie Bernstein, a breast-cancer epidemiologist and director for cancer etiology at City of Hope, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Duarte, Calif., wrote in an April 7 letter to Klobuchar:

And here’s what The National Breast Cancer Coalition, a nationwide breast-cancer advocacy group, wrote in their analysis of the proposed legislation:

Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS), has also tried to dissuade Klobuchar and Wasserman Shultz from sponsoring the EARLY Act. In a letter to ACS volunteers he explained his position on the bill:

Donald Berry, chairman of the Department of Biostatistics and Applied Mathematics at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and a breast-cancer prevention expert, told Paul Goldberg, editor of The Cancer Letter, last April, “Much of this bill is misguided. I leave politics to the politicians. Why can’t they leave science to the scientists?”

A personal testimonial
Goldberg seems to have been the lone reporter covering scientific opposition to this bill. In an article published last Friday (hat tip, Gary Schwitzer at Schwitzer Health News Blog), Goldberg described a June 16 teleconference call organized by one of the bill’s primary advocates, the United Jewish Communities/Jewish Federations of North America. Both Klobuchar and Wasserman Schultz, who underwent a double mastectomy last year after being diagnosed with breast cancer, participated in the call, which was intended to build a groundswell of support for the legislation, particularly within the Jewish community. Breast cancer is of special concern to women of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage because of their increased risk of carrying a gene mutation for the disease.

Wrote Goldberg:

But, as Goldberg points out – and the experts concur – no evidence supports the effectiveness of breast self exams.

Here’s what NBCC wrote in its analysis:

An EARLY passage?

According to Goldberg, the EARLY Act has garnered 360 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, more than enough to pass the bill once it reaches the floor. Co-sponsors have been more difficult for Klobuchar to amass in the Senate. So far, the Senate version has 14 co-sponsors, and, says Goldberg, "it's by no means certain that the measure would get through committees now that skeptics have made their case increasingy public."

I sought comment from Sen. Klobuchar and received this statement from Rose Baumann, health legislative aide: