We'd also need to know more about what a BRCA1 mutation means in the absence of family history.

CNN: What Angelina Jolie forgot to mention

One reckoning is that around 7% of breast cancers are related to the BRCA1 mutation, or the similar BRCA2.

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But she neglects to point out that 90% of these deaths have nothing to do with the BRCA1 mutation.

CNN: What Angelina Jolie forgot to mention

Because more than 99% of women do not have the BRCA1 mutation -- or the BRCA2 mutation, for that matter.

CNN: What Angelina Jolie forgot to mention

Let's be clear, the BRCA1 mutation is a bad thing.

CNN: What Angelina Jolie forgot to mention

The vast majority of women don't have the BRCA1 mutation.

CNN: What Angelina Jolie forgot to mention

In a global study conducted by Dr. Steven Narod, senior scientist at Women's College Research Institute in Toronto, the United States had the highest rate of prophylactic mastectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.

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Scientists from the Centre for Research on Women's Health in Toronto led the study which looked at women with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation.

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But for the average breast cancer patient who has neither the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation nor a close relative with breast cancer (Jolie's mother, for example, died from ovarian cancer), the risk of a new breast cancer in the nonaffected breast is less than 1%.

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She also had a mutation of the BRCA1 gene.

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The 37-year-old actress previously said she decided to have the double mastectomy followed by reconstructive surgery after learning she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which sharply increases her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

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