Galveston County Daily News, May 15, 2007 By Howard Brody, M.D., Ph.D. Once upon a time, there were some scientists who worked with the National Cancer Institute, they wrote some recommendations for women getting screening mammograms for breast cancer. They looked very hard at the scientific data and found evidence of real benefit for women ages 50 and older. But they could not find much evidence of real benefit for low-risk women in their 40s. So the scientists wrote in their recommendation that women ages 40-49 should discuss mammograms with their physicians and make up their own minds. The scientists were very surprised when they were called on the carpet by some angry congress people. The congress people screamed and hollered and accused the scientists of being anti-women's health. "If you tell women there is no formal recommendation for women 40-49, you will just confuse them," they ranted. "This proves you don't care about the noble cause of stamping out breast cancer." The scientists were still puzzled about how treating women as intelligent people was being anti-woman when their bosses spoke up.