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Article: Controversy Surrounds Marketing of PSA Test
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 23, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The debate over whether the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test
is overused by doctors and oversold by pharmaceutical companies first
erupted in 1992, when the American Cancer Society endorsed annual PSA
tests for all men over 50. Some thought the recommendation was
premature; even today, no study has settled the question of whether,
as a group, men who get the test live any longer than those who do
not. Others objected because the ACS came to its decision after
accepting donations from the companies that stood to profit from the
test.
Since then, other organizations, many of them supported by
pharmaceutical companies with a financial stake in prostate cancer,
have endorsed the PSA as a ...