BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- New breast cancer screening guidelines have caused uproar between scientists and health policy experts in the United States.

    The sweeping new guidelines released last Monday advised against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, and suggested women 50 to 74 only get a mammogram every other year instead of yearly.

    The guidelines, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an influential panel of independent experts, are intended to balance the benefits of saving lives with the harms of false alarms and the cost and trouble of extra tests.

    U.S. breast cancer experts and advocacy groups immediately rebelled against the recommendations, saying they endangered women's lives.

    Some critics said the guidelines were motivated by a desire to ration healthcare -- echoing a charge made by Republican lawmakers in attacking healthcare overhaul legislation Democrats are pushing in the U.S. Congress.

    Democrats say they want to cut healthcare costs and extend coverage to millions lacking health insurance, while their critics say the overhaul would give the government a larger role in people's health.

    Current estimates are that screening test only reduces the death rate by 15 percent, and screening leads to false positives and unnecessary biopsies. 

    As a result, it leads to overdiagnosis — the test is finding cancers that grow so slowly that if they were left alone they would never be noticed or cause any problem in a woman's lifetime. Since the harmless cancers look the same as deadly cancers, they are treated as if they are potentially lethal, with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, said the New York Times. 

    (Agencies)