This Thursday, the House Health and Government Operations Committee will hold a hearing on House Bill 182 sponsored by Delegate Donna Stifler (R-District 35A).
The legislation would freeze in place the existing American Cancer Society guidelines for mammograms which recommend regular annual screenings for women age 40 and up. Last year the United States Preventive Services Task Force proposed changing the existing guidelines to annual mammograms only for women age 50 and up. Many members of the medical community have rejected these recommendations.
Knowing that early detection is key to surviving breast cancer and given the fact that I know someone in their early thirties who is fighting it right now, I gladly cosponsored this legislation. The bill has broad bi-partisan support and will hopefully pass this legislative session.
For more information on breast cancer and breast cancer screening, visit www.breastcancer.org.
Filed in: 2010 Legislative Session.
This legislation is actually a step backward. Current Maryland law requires screenings to follow the guidelines of the American Cancer Society, whereas this law freezes into place the current ACS guidelines no matter what the ACS may decide in the future. What if research shows that women should get mammograms at an earlier age? MD would be stuck with the current guidelines. Or what if a new screening technology surpasses mammography as the best screening tool? Again, MD would be stuck with the current guidelines no matter what the ACS might think at that point. This is a bad and possibly dangerous bill, despite the good intentions behind it.
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It is very bad news for women below 50 as anyone these days can be prone to cancer. It is quite insensitive to pass a legislation like this.
Sharsheret, a national organization supporting Jewish women and families facing breast cancer, addressed the new breast cancer screening guidelines. Check out the audio recording of Sharsheret’s national teleconference, “New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines: What Do They Mean For Me?,” at http://www.sharsheret.blogspot.com. For more information about Sharsheret’s free programs and services, call (866) 474-2774 or visit http://www.sharsheret.org.