NCI reverses one expert panel, sides with another
Taubes, G.
Science 276(5309): 27-28
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 9122702 Document Number: 470132
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently issued guidelines recommending that women between the ages of 40 and 49 undergo mammograms every one to two years. The new recommendations directly contradict the conclusion of a panel of scientists convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in January to examine the scientific evidence for screening. In the interim, the Senate, led by Republican senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, pressed the NIH to recommend mammography for younger women. Both Richard Klausner, the director of NCI, and Barbara Rimer, chair of the National Cancer Advisory Board, denied that pressure from Specter and the Senate had any influence on their rejection of the consensus panel's conclusion. Nonetheless, Steve Woolf, science adviser to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, notes that the public needs to know that scientists have spoken their minds freely without political manipulation when conclusions are reached.