The experts advise that women get

Sometimes new heahh advice conflicts with old advice. Yet new guidelines last week for breast cancer testing in the United States created a storm of debate. The advice came from experts who are appointed by the government to develop guidelines for preventive services, like mammograms. The experts advised most women to get fewer mammograms. They said the risk of needless treatment outweighs the good from more tests. (7)The new advice is to get tested every two years, instead of yearly, and to start at age fifty instead of forty. The new guidelines say women aged twenty-one to twenty-nine only need to get a Pap test every two years instead of yearly. Girls are advised to begin testing within three years of when they first have sex, or in any case no later than twenty-one. (8)A Pap test looks for abnormal cervical cells that could become cancer. Cervical cancer is highly curable if it is found early. Pap tests have saved countless lives.