Reform’s Zia Yusuf thinks targeted prostate cancer screenings are racist against white people now

On 2 June, the Department of Health and Social Care announced a £200m boost to the Transform prostate cancer treatment trial. However, Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf has chosen to get himself in a tizz about the fact that the potentially life-saving trial is targeting Black people.

You know, because Black people suffer from a far higher risk of prostate cancer than white people. But the far-right home affairs spokesperson isn’t letting that little fact stop him.

Following party leader Nigel Farage’s current talking point, Yusuf branded the trial as evidence of a “two-tier system” creating a systematic disadvantage for white people. Farage recently used the line to stoke racial hatred following the mistreatment of murder victim Henry Nowak at the hands of police.

‘Black men face a higher risk of prostate cancer’

The Transform study is a landmark prostate cancer screening trial. Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are funding the current expansion. Together, they’re seeking to improve the early detection and treatment of prostate cancer.

The £20m expansion means that the researchers can now invite “all eligible Black men” to take part. Of course, it’s not just men who can fall victim to prostate cancer, but we’re hardly surprised by the trans — and interphobic Labour Party’s use of language here.

The Health Department announcement stated that:

The move recognises that Black men face a higher risk of prostate cancer and aims to build the evidence needed to find the best screening strategy and tackle long-standing inequalities.

Regarding that disproportionate prevalence, one recent study had a potential explanation. Dr Greg Brooke — the lead researcher on a 2024 pilot study — explained that:

Black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to White men and 2.5 times more likely to die from the disease.

Part of the reason for this is because androgen receptor levels are higher in Black men but until now, no one has known why.

The androgen receptor protein is strongly involved in the growth and spread of prostate cancer. Brooke’s study identified novel genetic mutations which may explain the higher prevalence of the protein among Black people.

Yusuf: And where are the WHITE drugs??

Given that prostate cancer is both more common and far more deadly for Black people, the targeted expansion of the study seems like common sense. Beyond that, it’s a sensible use of public money, to boot.

Unfortunately, Reform UK are well known for lacking in both common sense and fiscal responsibility. As such, and with painful inevitability, Yusuf took to Twitter to say:

On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.

Note, the NHS makes NO drugs exclusively available to white people.

You watch, he’ll be in a flap about the NHS hardly treating any white people for sickle cell disease next.

First, the country’s only het up about a ‘two-tier system’ because of Farage using the phrase to whip up a race riot. You know, just like he did back in 2024, the last time he whipped up a race riot using the same attack line.

Second, Yusuf apparently missed the government memo here. Transform is a screening trial, not a drug. Unless, you know, he’s joining his party leader in trying to stir up racial hatred in the hopes of winning a few cheap votes.

Reform — ‘They don’t understand basic evidence’

On that note, and in reply to Yusuf, Green leader Zack Polanski wrote:

The prospect of Reform in charge of our NHS is truly terrifying.

Not only do they want to introduce a US style charging system, they don’t understand basic evidence.

Of course, we’re not going to rule out that possibility. Maybe Yusuf genuinely doesn’t understand statistics, evidence, or basic fact.

He is, after all, a second-generation immigrant from a Sri Lankan family who hangs about with Reform UK. That’s a party for which 22% of voters believe he should be forced or ‘encouraged’ to leave the country.

Not the best mastery of statistics there at all.

However, on balance, our money’s on the alternative. Yusuf knows full well that he’s bent the truth well past breaking point. He knows why the study is targeting the Black community, that it’s a trial, that it’s not a drug at all. Likewise, he probably knows that most of his followers know all that too.

Hell, he almost certainly knows that he’s not living in a two-tier system that exists to privilege Black and brown people. Even growing up with a silver spoon shoved up both ends, he must have noticed the UK’s vehement racism.

The problem is that Reform UK and their ilk don’t concern themselves with facts. Rather, they’ll try to obscure them at every chance they get, because what they need is their followers’ unquestioning, subservient rage. Rage makes people so much easier to manipulate.

Featured image via Carl Court/Getty Images