Breast cancer charity seeks ‘Jolie gene test’

A CHARITY has called for a type of breast cancer testing to be available in Scotland as well as England and Wales.

US actress Angelina Jolie. Picture: Getty

Women south of the Border will be offered a BRCA gene test from next month.

It is the test which convinced the Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie to have a double mastectomy to greatly reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.

James Jopling, the Scotland director at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “It looks likely that the introduction of new guidelines in England will mean more women will be eligible to be tested for faults in the BRCA genes.

“We welcome this and hope Scotland will follow this step in due course.”

A Scottish government spokesman said: “Treating cancer is a top priority and cancer survival in Scotland is improving all the time.”