Medicine: Mammogram Moratorium

Responding to recent warnings that breast X rays, or mammograms, may be contributing, however slightly, to the incidence of breast cancer (TIME, Aug. 2), health officials last week issued new guidelines for their use in a breast-cancer screening program in 27 centers for women 35 years and over.

Until now, the 270,000 participants in the demonstration project—a joint effort of the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society—automatically received annual mammograms, along with a manual examination of the breasts and thermograms (tumor-detecting heat pictures). But under the new policy, mammograms will be restricted, until further studies are completed, to women 50...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!