New mammogram guidelines announced Monday are bringing in a flood of criticism. Health and Human Services now recommends women not start getting routine mammograms until they are 50 years old. One local breast cancer survivor says many women already have their heads in the sand when it comes to breast cancer, and these recommendations will only make that worse.

Hillman was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40. That was only possible she says with a self breast examination and a mammogram. She doesn't even want to think about where she'd be today, without the diagnostic tool.

“Don't take away the screening tools we currently have unless you are going to replace it with something,” says Hillman.

Hillman is alive today she says because of diagnostic breast imaging called mammography. Former guidelines recommended women start getting screened for breast cancer in their 40S. But a task force with the Department of Health and Human Services says those guidelines need to be changed--that is women should start getting mammograms at age 50-and then if there a no problems have that screening done every other year.

“Don't say well now I don't have to have one until I am 50. It’s shown mammograms save lives,” says Hillman.

Hillman is not alone in her opposition to the new guidelines. She has volunteered countless times at the local Komen Run where scores of young women come to share their breast cancer experience. These same women would not even be here she says if the guidelines are taken seriously. H-H-S says the guidelines are to prevent over exposure to radiation as well as decreasing the amount of false positives that can occur in early screening.

“Yes, it does create anxiety to have a false positive when you are under 50 but I would rather have that, and go back and be tested again then to find out oh my gosh I have it and I'm at a stage 2 or 3 and now my treatment is going to be much more invasive than to catch it early,” says Hillman.

These new guidelines not only recommend mammography for women later in life and less frequently. The guidelines also discount the benefits of teaching women to perform self breast exams, and questions the usefulness of clinical breast exams.