The news media and health care community are buzzing today about a new recommendation from a government task force that refutes the standard practice that women get their first mammogram at age 40.

The report from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force – an independent panel of experts in primary care and prevention – now recommends women wait until age 50 to get a mammogram. The report also says self exams are useless. The new guidelines are drawing criticism from breast cancer experts.

The American Cancer Society, which encourages women to get mammograms beginning at age 40, along with the American College of Radiology are speaking out in disagreement.

Read more about the U.S. Preventive Services summary of recommendations and supporting documents online.

Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said in a statement that the organization “continues to recommend annual screening using mammography and clinical breast examination for all women beginning at age 40.”

Quoted in this article, Dr. Carol Lee, chief of the breast imaging commission for the American College of Radiology, said, “The universal reaction among breast imagers I have spoken to across the country since we learned of these revised recommendations … has been one of outrage.”

“Screening mammography saves lives,” Lee said. “It saves lives of women in their 40s.”

What are your thoughts? Did you have a mammogram in your 40s that resulted in early detection of breast cancer? Do you agree that waiting until age 50 is a good idea? Tell us. And check out this video from the Charleston Breast Center that gives an inside look at the mammogram process.