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The arguments simply don't pan out for ignoring the new advice. If you are using the 'more women will die' argument like Dr. Healy you better be prepared to explain why we should test at 40 and not 30 or even 20; young women get aggressive breast cancer too and screening can catch those and save lives.

This is a very typical case of balancing risk and cost, we do it all the time. Do you want to decrease highway casualties to zero? We can do it: close the highways. You see though, the value we place on mobility is high enough that we put up with some personal risk. How much risk? How much value? Well that's a tough question and that's he kind of question this study was trying to deal with

This study has found that the value of testing women under 50 is not as high as we thought and changed recommendations accordingly. It sounds cold, but you have to draw the line somewhere and I would rather see it drawn by people who understand the science and more importantly the statistics rather than people who make the simplistic arguments based on fear and politics.

I am thankful that the FIVE women in my life that are fighting breast cancer right now were tested early, found the cancer and are now on chemo. Out of those five, FIVE of them found the lump by self exam. I will ignore these recomindations on the grounds that its MY body and hopefully I wont be like the five women in my life right now that there world is turned upside down...but...there is hope in treatment for them. God bless them for their courage.

Save the Ta' ta's!!! Do self exams!!!

Pamela

Being a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer in my 40s based on a routine mammogram, you might not be surprised to find me leaning just a bit toward thinking saving my life is more important than generic statistics.

And forgive me if I snicker at Janice C.'s analogy about highway casualties...clearly a misunderstanding about how to correlate the two references. This would be a bit more accurate:
Decrease highway casualties to zero? Close the highways.
Decrease breast cancer deaths to zero? Double mastectomies for every female over the age of 16.
On the other hand, the equivalent of regular breast cancer screenings as related to highway driving would be to set speed limits. Oh right, we do that, and it decreases the number of accidents and highway deaths without closing the highways, and only minor inconvenience to the mobility of the general population. Go get your mammos, girls.

Snicker away, Eliza, but let me ask you a question: how do you decide what the speed limit should be? Lowering it to 25 mph would save lives. Would you advocate that?

My point is that you need to draw a line somwhere between risk and cost. The question becomes how do you do it. I am more inclined to listen to people who will look dispationately at the numbers than someone making emotional arguments based on anecdotal evidence.

And remember, it's a baseline recommendation; people are expected to use judgement and a doctor to evaluate their personal risk.