Population screening for early-stage cancer or cancer precursors began in the mid-twentieth century, with the goal of reducing suffering from cancer illness and lengthening average life by preventing cancer deaths. Since the establishment of cancer screening, concerns have emerged that it may be doing considerable harm; despite this, screening practices have remained relatively intractable. This intractability in the face of harm is the central problematic of my analysis. I reinterpret a large study of breast, cervical and prostate cancer screening completed recently by our Australian research group, working across empirical bioethics, public health and social science. I suggest three reasons why cancer screening might persist as it does, and thus reach conclusions about what might be required to make cancer screening systems more responsive to the potential for harm.

对早期癌症或癌症前体的人群筛查始于20世纪中叶，其目标是通过预防癌症死亡来减少罹患癌症的痛苦并延长平均寿命。自从进行癌症筛查以来，人们开始担心它可能会造成相当大的危害。尽管如此，筛查实践仍然相对棘手。面对伤害时，这种棘手的问题是我分析的中心问题。我重新解释了一项由澳大利亚研究小组最近完成的关于乳腺癌，宫颈癌和前列腺癌筛查的大型研究，该研究涉及经验生物伦理学，公共卫生和社会科学。我提出了癌症筛查可能持续进行的三个原因，