A controversial new study claims about one in every five cancers diagnosed in Australia would have been better left undiscovered. The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday, argues more than half of melanomas, 22 per cent of breast cancers and 42 per cent of prostate cancers diagnosed in Australia would never have caused problems. The government funds a breast-cancer screening program and many people diligently ask their GP for skin and prostate cancer checks. But all that extra checking is turning up cancers that would never have gone on to harm the patient, the study says. And to treat them, we turn to surgery and chemotherapy – which come with their own risks. “There will be cancers diagnosed that will not go on to be life threatening,” concedes Cancer Council CEO Professor Sanchia Aranda. “But the issue remains that we don’t always know which cancers […]