Woman's Hour - 07/06/2010

Presented by Jane Garvey. Mary Portas's career has taken her from the shop floor of John Lewis, via Harvey Nichols, to become one of the UK's foremost authorities on retail. She joins Jane to talk about the latest series of "Mary Queen of Shops" in which she sets out to create survival plans for six small businesses from a hairdresser to a family bakery. Recent research suggests that infrared, or thermal, breast screening can improve the detection rates for breast cancer in women under 50. But thermal imaging is only available privately. Cancer Research UK say there's already sufficient screening for younger women at a high risk of contracting the disease - so is it worth paying for? Jane discusses the issues with Professor Gordon Wishart, consultant surgeon at Cambridge Breast Cancer Research Unit and medical director at Breast Health UK and Professor Hilary Thomas, Trustee of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Last week on Woman's Hour Jekka McVicar spoke about her enthusiasm for the herb stevia as an alternative to sugar but she mentioned her frustration that there is contradictory information about its safe uses. Stevia is not licensed in the EU or the USA as a sweetener although it is in Japan. Jane speaks to Dr Sandy Lawrie, Head of Novel Foods at the Foods Standards Agency about the herb. 'Grace Williams Says It Loud' is Emma Henderson's first novel. Looking at the experiences of a girl with mental and physical disabilities shut away in an institution from a very young age, Emma talks to Jane about how the character of Grace was shaped by the experiences of her own sister. And Jane speaks to the author of this week's drama, "Leaving Normal", about a gay couple taking on the care of two orphaned children.