The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently told women in their 40s that they don't need mammograms. Now, they will soon recommend that men not get screened for prostate cancer.
The task force is currently planning on recommending a "D" rating for PSA testing, meaning that "there is moderate or high certainty that the service has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits." A review of studies has shown that the PSA blood test yields "small or no reduction" in prostate cancer deaths.
According to CNN:
“The report adds that PSA testing is ‘associated with harms related to subsequent evaluation and treatments.’ ... The problem is that many of the cancers that get detected are so small and slow-growing, they'll never be harmful, and doctors have a difficult time discerning the quick, harmful cancers from the slow, harmless ones.”
Sources:
http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2011/10/08/experts-finally-get-common-sense-and-now-say-men-dont-need-prostate-screenings.aspx
