Judge Overturns Corporate Patent on Human DNA

A federal judge on Monday struck down the patent, held jointly by the University of Utah and Myriad Genetics, over BCRA1 and BCRA2, two human genes in which mutations can cause breast and ovarian cancer. The case was filed in 2009 by the ACLU, which argued More…

While Health Reform Falters, Mammogram Debate Still Rages

When a preventive-health panel stirred a storm last November by scaling back its guidelines for breast cancer screening among 40-somethings, Congress was quick to intervene. Indeed, it took just 17 days before senators unanimously agreed to bar the government from using those recommendations to inform federal coverage More…

Mammogram Hearing Set for Wednesday

The House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee has scheduled a hearing Wednesday to examine contentious new guidelines recommending that women get breast cancer screenings less frequently and later in life.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force caused a storm this month when it suggested that routine mammograms begin at More…

Dems’ Health Bills Would Adopt New Mammogram Guidelines

The Democrats downplaying the gravity of new recommendations for breast cancer screening have left out an inconvenient fact: their health care bills would automatically adopt them.

Both the House and Senate health reform proposals would force insurance plans to follow the new mammogram guidelines for women ages 50 to 74 More…

GOPers Scream ‘Rationing,’ But Shun Bill Ensuring Mammograms

Republicans on Capitol Hill were sure quick to go after the new federal guidelines recommending that women should seek routine mammograms beginning at age 50 instead of 40. “This is how rationing begins,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. “This is when you start getting More…

Wasserman Schultz: New Breast Cancer Recommendations Are ‘Clear as Mud’

The firestorm continues surrounding new recommendations that women screen later in life and less frequently for breast cancer, with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) — herself a breast cancer survivor — blasting the advice as both dangerous and confusing to women.

“These are very disturbing recommendations,” More…

Here’s One Way to Cut Health Care Costs

Women should screen for breast cancer less frequently and at a later age, according to new recommendations issued Monday by a well-respected preventative medicine panel.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force, which in 2002 recommended that women begin getting mammograms at age 40, now says 50 is the more More…