National has added a private Member’s Bill into the ballot box to legislate an increase in age for routine breast cancer screening, National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti says.

“On the back of National’s recent announcement, a Member’s Bill under my name has been put into the ballot box, which would increase the current breast cancer screening age from 69 to 74 years old.

“Breast cancer is the most common cancer for New Zealand women, and this one change to the screening age has the potential to save 65 lives each year. The longer we wait to increase the age, the more lives we could lose to this disease.

“Other countries have already done this, such as Australia, Canada and the US, but New Zealand is lagging behind by five years.

“Around 80 per cent of women who die from breast cancer are aged 50 years or older. It makes sense to increase the age to look after those most vulnerable.

“To speed up the process, I will be seeking support from each party to bypass the ballot box so that the change can be made faster to save more lives. It would be wrong to deny New Zealand women this important change to cancer prevention.”

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