The Jolie Conspiracy

A public relations stunt timed to influence the US Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision on BRCA1 gene testing

Angelina Jolie made headlines after The New York Times published her column about undergoing a preventative double mastectomy. ‘My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 per cent to under 5 per cent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer,’ she wrote. Her decision to go public, she said, was intended to motivate other women to get tested. Website Natural News alleges the whole thing is a public relations stunt timed to influence the US Supreme Court’s forth-coming decision on the viability of a patent on BRCA1 gene testing. If the patent comes through, testing for the gene will become hugely profitable, with tests costing $3,000-$4,000. ‘It’s a…PR stunt that tries to trick women into supporting a corporate system of patents and monopolies that claims…to own portions of the bodies of every woman living today,’ the article claims. Natural News, incidentally, has often been accused in the past of fanning conspiracy theories and quackery.

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