I just had my annual lady parts doctor visit, and I received my first lab slip ever for a mammogram.  And my reaction was to throw it into a file drawer and forget about it.  My reasoning?  None, really.  It’s just your basic level of personal denial.  I simply cannot believe I’m forty.  Mammograms seem like something for older people, and I’m not one of those.

The new recommendations are to start biennial screening at fifty.  This is a big change–going from an annual screening starting at forty to a screening every two years starting at fifty.  Naturally, since it is a big change, it has stirred up some controversy.

Orac explains the evidence behind the new recommendations  well, if you are interested in further reading. And Rebeca at Skepchick wrote a nice, succinct post, responding to some of the more hysterical responses to the new recommendations.

Interestingly enough, just hearing so much about this news on the radio, and reading about it on various blogs, has been enough to make me actually consider going to get this mammogram, which I apparently no longer really need.  The bottom line seems to be that you still should consult your doctor for advice about screening.  If you have a family history of breast cancer, for example, the annual screening at forty might still make sense for you.  But it looks like for a woman with no special risk factors, the extra screening doesn’t do much more good, and in fact it might actually cause harms like stress over a false diagnosis and extra unnecessary procedures.

This is a great piece to read if you’re interested in how the media reports science, or how the media reports bad studies that aren’t science:

We need real science. And we need the media to be able to distinguish what counts as real science and what is merely self-serving activism.

Yay, science. Boo, self-serving activism. Oh, and also, boo, babies getting cancer from bath products.