Did you read last week that the government is recommending women no longer do regular self-breast exams and no longer get regular mammograms until they're at least 50?

Remember that story?

Well, ignore it. Ignore everything you read in it.

Please.

Oncologists, scientists, advocacy groups and cancer survivors are in a panic over a new report issued last week by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. In the report, the task force dismissed the benefits of regular breast exams for young women and questioned the value of getting regular mammograms starting age 40, as recommended by cancer experts for the past two decades. The report concluded that women should wait until age 50 before getting exams, and then only get them every two years.

It also said women should refrain from doing regular self-exams.

In reaching its conclusions, the task force said false positives in regular breast exams caused unnecessary levels of anxiety among women and generated more unnecessary exams and potentially dangerous procedures than they're worth.

Many in the medical community fear the report will create confusion among women and perhaps prompt some to delay screening until it's too late. They say women are putting themselves at great risk if they follow the task force's recommendations.

"That is a huge concern and part of the irresponsibility of the release. If you write something in your editorial, the first thing should be in bold letters, ‘Continue screening mammography,' " said Dr. Christine Rowe-Button, a clinical radiologist with Adirondack Radiology Associates and Glens Falls Hospital. "I think it's really important that women know that the recommendations that they have been following since 1990 are the recommendations that they still should continue to follow."

Rowe-Button said the task force's report is not a recommendation that's being advocated by any of the significant independent medical organizations, and she said no representatives from any major medical organizations served on the task force or participated in the preparation of the report.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has been a longtime advocate of early breast-cancer screening, was so bothered by the report that she demanded the federal government clarify its recommendations in order to clear up any confusion.

The 42-year-old senator says she gets a mammogram each year and urges other women to follow suit.

Rowe-Button said there's been a 30 percent reduction in mortality for breast carcinoma since 1990. The major reason for that success, she said, is the recommendations for self-exams and for regular breast cancer screening after age 40.

There may indeed be false positives from self-exams. And yes, Rowe-Button says, cancer screening can cause anxiety. But the benefits of early detection, she said, far outweigh the problems.

Jim and Charlene DeDell can personally attest to the importance of early regular self breast exams.

Their daughter, Danielle Volks, had just turned 28 when she found a lump during one of her regular self-exams.

Not ignoring it, Danielle went to the doctor and had an examination, which led to a mammogram, which led to the discovery that she had an aggressive and fast-moving form of breast cancer, her father, Jim, said Friday.

After surgery, which included lumpectomy-mastectomy and the removal of 16 lymph nodes, Danielle underwent 16 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by 30 treatments of radiation, her father said.

Now, at age 29, her cancer is in remission, and Danielle has become an enthusiastic local advocate for early-detection practices.

"When we saw that article in the paper, the thing that ticked me off was the part that they were recommending was pooh-poohing self-exams," Jim DeDell said. "My gosh, if she hadn't discovered that lump herself ..."

Danielle said she knows exactly what would have happened.

"I would be dead or on death's door if I had listened to the advice of this task force."

That's the bottom line.

Self breast exams save lives.

Mammograms save lives. The current recommendations, proven over 20 years, save lives.

There's no need for women to be confused by this new report. Take this advice: Ignore it.

Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Publisher Rick Emanuel, Editor Ken Tingley, Editorial Page Editor Mark Mahoney and citizen representative Bill Reynolds.