WBRZ News 2 Louisiana : Baton Rouge, LA | Health secretary urges women to continue mammograms

2 Your Health

Health secretary urges women to continue mammograms

By Kelly Spell
Source: Associated Press
Updated: November 18, 2009 5:44 PM

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius advised women over 40 to continue yearly mammograms, despite a recent recommendation that says otherwise.

Sebelius emphasized federal policy on who should get breast cancer screenings has not changed.

She issued a statement Wednesday to ease confusion over a government panel's recommendation on Monday that said most women don't need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50.

That recommendation was a break with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position that women should get screening mammograms starting at age 40.

The task force does "not set federal policy and they don't determine what services are covered by the federal government," Sebelius said.

Sebelius called mammograms "an important life-saving tool" and she said women should "keep doing what you have been doing for years."

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