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Yesterday the top health headlines read, “Cancer screenings do not save lives.” However today the headlines have changed. The controversy comes from a statement made by Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS). Brawley made the statement in an interview with the New York Times about a Journal of the American Medical Association analysis of breast and prostate cancer screening

Top medical officials with the ACS said the benefits of breast cancer and prostate cancer screening are being oversold, which turned into a firestorm of controversy, though leading cancer doctors have raised doubts about the routine screening.

The idea that screening saves lives is not as simple as it sounds, and the advantages of screening have been “exaggerated,” Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society. Scientists determined that prostate cancer screening and breast cancer screening are finding cancers that do not need to be discovered because they would never spread and kill or even be detected if left alone. This fact alone has led to a large increase in cancer diagnoses because, without screening, those innocuous cancers would go undetected.

“While the advantages of screening for some cancers have been overstated, there are advantages, especially in the case of breast, colon and cervical cancers. Mammography is effective – mammograms work and women should continue to get them. The American Cancer Society stands by its recommendation that women age 40 and over should receive annual mammography, and women at high risk should talk with their doctors about when screening should begin based on their family history”, Brawley shared.

Therefore, despite yesterday’s health headlines, The American Cancer Society has no plans to change its breast cancer screening recommendations. It is not known if the clarifying statement from ACS will quiet the situation, however it is clear that such a statement might have been needed.