“88% of DCIS is Overtreated.” — A Breast Surgeon Explains the Evidence
Over 60,000 woman every year are diagnosed with non-invasive Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) — commonly called “stage zero” breast cancer. Most are rushed into surgery, radiation & drugs. Most are not informed about overdiagnosis & overtreatment. DCIS 411 amplifies research educating women to make more informed decisions. Listen to this 1 minute clip explaining […]
Yes to QT Imaging! Yes to Safer Breast Screening! Yes to Preventing DCIS Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment! Yes to Nutrition & Holistic Wellness!
QT Imaging is the future of breast screening! It is has no radiation, no compression and no contrast dye. This technology has arrived at LongevityRx, a wonderful new “Preventative” Health Center in San Diego! I attended their Grand Opening on February 28, 2026… Listen to a short interview I did with team member Jenna…. LongevityRx […]
CheatSheet — Stay Healthy & Avoid DCIS (“Stage Zero Breast Cancer”) Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment
Every year I give a personal update and I try to simplify information based on the latest research, technology, and common sense! Think of the image above like a CheatSheet. It’s a one-page summary of 16 years of insights, endless hours of research, hundreds of blog posts, nutrition studies/certification, and nonprofit advocacy! To access links, […]
Warning: Cancer Screening May Harm Your Health
Has your doctor warned you about potential risks and harms of cancer screening? Mine didn’t. I learned the hard way. My story is featured in an article in THE EPOCH TIMES, published January 7, 2026: What to Know Before Saying Yes to Routine Screenings: Screening can catch disease early–or turn healthy people into patients. “Donna […]
Donna’s 16 Year Update — Smashing Myths, Advocating for Change & My Nonprofit Mission
Despite being told, “Your breast is like spoiled soup; it isn’t worth saving,” I declined all further “standard of care” treatment recommendations in 2011. I said good-bye forever to fear-mongering doctors and forged my own path to health and well-being. It’s now 16 years later. I never developed invasive cancer. I became a passionate advocate […]
DCIS — New BMJ Study Supports Active Monitoring
A new study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) July 2025, adds to growing evidence that many women with a DCIS diagnosis may want to consider an active monitoring approach.
Mammogram Opt Out Letter & Petition!
I am writing to formally decline mammograms at this time. This decision is based on my personal review of independent medical literature, scientific research, and my own health priorities and values.
Is DCIS Cancer? Rethinking the “Carcinoma” in Stage Zero Breast Cancer
Women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) have been told they have “stage zero breast cancer”, creating fear and urgency to treat it aggressively. But a growing body of research challenges whether DCIS should even be called cancer in the first place.
Cheers to 15 years — NEVER Cancer!
It’s my 15 year Overdiagnosis Day! January 19, 2010 — my life changed forever. This was the day I was given a diagnosis of something I had never heard of before. It was called Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) and it was described as a “pre-cancer.” But…..because of uncertainty about a potential future real INVASIVE […]
Mammograms… Are Women Given Informed Consent?
I think we can all agree, when it comes to our health, we would prefer clear information on risks and benefits vs being oversold. But, when it comes to mammograms, most women do not even realize they have NOT been given informed consent. Many say they feel encouraged, pressured, and even coerced into scheduling a […]
Lumpectomy’s Little Secret: Women Uninformed about High Re-Excision Rates & Mastectomies for DCIS
Women are often told lumpectomy is an easy surgery. One and done. Yet… more often than not, this is NOT the case. In fact, studies report up to 70% of the time, a 2nd surgery is needed due to “positive margins” for DCIS. It happened to me in 2011. After a DCIS diagnosis in January […]
My HEALTH Wake Up Call — A PODCAST Sharing Personal Stories
I have been contemplating creating this podcast as well as educational videos and a documentary for years. The intention is to give voice to people who have personal stories of a HEALTH WAKE-UP CALL. I’m kicking off Episode 1 on this symbolic day with my personal story (see video at bottom of this post). It […]
DCIS is NOT Breast Cancer — An Online Support Group Leading a Paradigm Shift
A paradigm shift is defined as “an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way.”
DCIS – Is Not Breast Cancer! — an online support group created in 2020 — has quickly attracted over 1.5k women with approximately 25 new requests to join each week.
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 29 — Women are Not Fully Informed about Risks of Breast Implants
Did you know… The FDA wants a stronger warning on breast implants about risks. Over 400 breast-implant recipients have developed a rare blood cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and a dozen women have died. Allergan, based in Dublin, Ireland, said it has agreed to remove its Biocell textured implants from the market after […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 26 — FEAR-MONGERING
Did you know… Fear-mongering is defined as the action of deliberately arousing public fear or alarm about a particular issue. Thanks to Dr Kenny Lin for his blog post in Common Sense Family Doctor : Fear-mongering in thyroid and breast cancer screening “From the 1980s-era American Cancer Society print advertisement that lectured women, “If you […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 22 — Screening Doesn’t Save Lives
Did you know… Professor Peter C Gøtzsche shared on Twitter today: “Pink month lies: “Early detection saves lives and breasts.” It doesn’t, and because of overdiagnosis you will reduce your risk of becoming a breast cancer patient by one-third if you ignore summons for mammography screening.” Be sure to watch this important video in its […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 21 — Biased Guidelines & Marketing
Did you know… Women can not possibly make an informed decision when they are bombarded with slick marketing campaigns from groups with “specialty bias.” In Professional Societies Should Abstain From Authorship of Guidelines and Disease Definition Statements: “Hundreds and thousands of designated guideline coauthors share in the society-wide power game across a large portfolio of […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 19 — Celebrities & Mammography Advice
Did you know…. #1. Companies use celebrities to aggressively market 3D mammograms, although there’s no evidence they save lives. In July 2016, Health News Review wrote: Sheryl Crow hawks 3D mammograms with fear and false hope “It may not be her favorite mistake, but it was a mistake nonetheless for the singer and breast cancer […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 18 — Fear vs Facts
Did you know… Your breasts might kill you? That’s the message put forth by the video below… urging women to get a mammogram every year starting at 40. Where is the information about the risks, harms and limitations of mammography? Be WISE information and videos helps women understand potential harms of breast cancer screening. Donna […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 17 — Radical Remission
Did you know… Over 1500 cases of “radical remission” have been analyzed and documented by Dr. Kelly Turner, author of New York Times bestseller, Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds. “Radical remission” is a term that refers to remission that occurs either without conventional medical treatment, after conventional treatment has failed to work, or […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 15 — Toxic “Forever Chemicals” in Pink Post-It Notes May Increase Breast Cancer Risk
Did you know… PFAS are called “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down, and evidence shows that even very low levels of PFAS exposure is not safe for human health. Please consider joining Breast Cancer Action in their campaign to call out corporate giant 3M for pinkwashing while continuing to produce and use toxic PFAS. 3M says their […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 14 — Some Doctors are Paid $$$ for Persuading Women to Get Screening Mammograms
Did you know… Some doctors are given cash bonuses for persuading women to get screening mammograms. One ethical doctor published a paper in the British Medical Journal, April 3, 2019: Helen Salisbury: Should I persuade patients to have mammograms? “Our practice has recently been invited by the local clinical commissioning group to take part in […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 11 — It’s Ok to Opt Out of Mammograms
Did you know… It’s Ok to Opt Out of Mammograms. In this must-read article, science writer, Christie Aschwanden lists key points (see below) of some of the “little known” harms of screening. She encourages women to review a chart on “Benefits and Harms of Screening Mammography.” Key points from article: While 61 percent of women […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 9 — Too Many Unnecessary Biopsies
Did you know… 1.6 million breast biopsies are performed each year in the US, and approximately 80% are found to be benign. Why so many biopsies? Fear of malpractice influences radiologists to order a biopsy of “anything and everything that shows up on the mammogram.” – The Untold Message of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, by […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 7 — “Peach Ribbons Not Pink”
Did you know… The original “Breast Cancer Awareness Ribbon” (B.C.A.R.) was peach. It was created by a woman named Charlotte Haley as a grassroots call to action for prevention and greater accountability. But…Charlotte’s peach ribbon got hijacked. The story is featured in the 2 minute trailer of the documentary Pink Ribbons, Inc. “If people actually […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 6 — Pinkwashing 101
Did you know… The definition of Pinkwasher: A company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease. Breast Cancer Action, coined the term pinkwashing and created a Think Before You Pink® campaign. […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 5 — Lifestyle Medicine
Did you know… More than 70,000 breast cancer cases a year—40% of all cases—could be prevented with lifestyle measures. – American Institute for Cancer Research Food is a powerful, yet largely untapped resource for disease prevention. Many Diseases Are Preventable Science shows many foods can prevent, halt or even reverse cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 2 — Dense Breast Tissue
Did you know… “Between 30% and 50% of cancers identified in women who undergo screening mammography are not detected by mammography.” – Dr. Christiane Kuhl, University of Aachen, Germany. Sadly Nancy Cappello’s invasive cancer was missed by mammograms. She founded a nonprofit organization, Are You Dense, to alert women about dense breast tissue masking invasive […]
31 Days of “Little Known” FACTS — For Breast Cancer Awareness Month — Day 1 — Mammograms
Did you know… One of the largest studies ever on mammograms indicated they do not reduce cancer deaths. Listen to this short video with Dr. Joann Elmore, an expert in mammography… “This study adds to an accumulation of data… Multiple large studies.” “We’re not seeing the benefit from mammography that we had hoped.” “The more […]
Aggressive Treatments for DCIS — or NOT? New Research Sheds Light
I hope every woman diagnosed with low-risk DCIS today knows they have a great opportunity that did not exist for me (and thousands others) in the past.
I feel an incredible sense of gratitude to all the forces and people that have made the COMET Study possible — to the physicians and cancer centers who are making it available — and to the women who will participate. Thank you!
Women Empowering Women — Shifting the Paradigm
A phenomenal thing happens when women become educated and empowered. Inspiration. Motivation. Passion. Connection. Action. This is the fuel igniting a paradigm shift in women’s health. Women sharing their personal experiences. Their concerns and fears. Their desire for truth and justice. Their vision for health-care without harm. Empowering one another to listen to that small […]
DCIS is NOT a “Ticking Time Bomb” — What Women Really Need to Know
Celebrity chef Sandra Lee was told by her doctors she was “a ticking time bomb.” Is it any wonder that she and thousands of women like her are racing to the operating room to amputate both their breasts? Why such radical treatment for DCIS? “Right now, we have women getting bilateral mastectomies for ductal carcinoma […]
Listen to My Phone Consultation with Dr. Michael Lagios
It was November 3, 2011 when I had a phone consultation with Dr. Michael D. Lagios, a nationally recognized breast pathologist and medical director of The Breast Cancer Consultation Service. As I wrote about in “Donna’s Journey,” the information I learned from Dr. Lagios gave me tremendous peace of mind (being that he downgraded the DCIS removed […]
DCIS is NOT Cancer!
“DCIS is not cancer, so why are we calling it cancer and always treating it like it is cancer?” These are the words of Dr. Laura Esserman, Director of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the University of California, San Francisco. She posed this question while speaking at the Australian Breast Cancer Conference […]
My 2 Hour Consultation with Dr. Gordon Saxe, Center for Integrative Medicine, UCSD
After reading this short description about Dr. Saxe, I got excited… Preventive and Natural Medicine Counseling (Nutrition, Supplements, Herbs); Integrative Oncology (specializing in Breast & Prostate Cancers) So, I clicked to learn more… Dr. Gordon Saxe is the Director of Research, a preventive and integrative medicine physician, a founding member of the UCSD Center for […]
“Beware Pink Fuzzy Dice” — Radio Interview with Donna Pinto
I was interviewed today on “Freedom For All” radio show: http://lnkd.in/b5KSZVx Thanks to Jim and Jennifer Ellis for shining the light….the TRUTH shall set us FREE from Mammograms and Pink Fuzzy Dice! Also, be sure to check out my article and send to all the women you know and love: Less Pink – More GREEN: An Intelligent […]
Less Pink – More GREEN: An Intelligent and Urgent Makeover for “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”
by Donna B. Pinto Pinktober is in full swing. Many of us (including me) have eagerly written checks to show support “for the cure.” But what if all the highly successful pink “awareness” campaigns have been focusing time, money and research in the wrong direction? What if “early detection” and screening mammograms don’t really save lives, but actually harm lives? According to Overdiagnosed: Making People […]