Susan Bewley, professor of complex obstetrics at KCL, and HealthWatch Committee member, has written in The Conversation about the dangers of celebrities making pronouncements about getting screened for cancer: Celebrity campaigns are a distraction from the real risks of cancer screening

While they make compelling media stories, this kind of media coverage of screening is often incomplete and misleading.

She writes:

It has helped to create unrealistic expectations of what screening programmes are and what they can deliver. On the one hand, there is a mistaken belief that screening only offers benefits. On the other, there is the myth that screening is only offered to certain age groups due to financial restrictions.

Sense About Science have launched a new free “Making Sense of Screening” guide that explains misconceptions about how screening works, its limitations and possible harms.