When we heard this, Mike and I were completely shocked. Here I am 45 years old and a breast cancer survivor. Thank g-d I was being monitored and having the screening tests I had been having regularly or I might not be sitting here writing this...
And to not teach women breast self exams... I know several women who found suspicious lumps/masses this way and thankfully had doctors that followed up on their concerns and guess what -- these were not high risk women and oh yea they were in their 40's!
Personally, I think we need another form of early detection since mammograms do not pick up on all breast cancers. It did not lead to my diagnosis. And doesn't seem to be an effective screening tool if you have dense breast tissue which most women have. And to want to make this recommendation because of the psychological implications with a false positive reading... Ridiculous.
It just illustrates that you have to really be your own advocate and fight for what you feel is important.
The following article seems to be a bit more on track.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/22/nih-chief-ignore-governmentsmammography-recommendations/
Ancora Imparo
Marla
