Thank you for your question, Mr. Thériault
There are three factors to that answer.
One is that 80% of women in their forties who get breast cancer have no risk factors. This is why we don't recommend a risk-based approach to screening. We recommend systematic screening starting at age 40. We would miss too many cancers otherwise.
There is a second point, which is that there's a tremendous lack of family physicians. In Ontario, over two million people do not have a family physician. This poses a very big obstacle to getting access to screening and to having a discussion to allow them in.
Third, you mentioned a very good point. There is a lack of awareness of the risk factors. Even women who should be in high-risk screening are not advocated for to have screening earlier than age 40, when they should be in a high-risk screening program.
These are obstacles that the task force is placing with these recommendations, and they are going to accentuate the confusion and disparities we see, particularly among some of the racial groups and ethnicities I mentioned. It's a very important point.