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U.S. health officials distanced themselves on Wednesday from controversial new breast cancer screening guidelines that recommend against routine mammograms for healthy women in their 40s and said federal policy on screening mammograms had not changed.

In a move likely to reassure American women, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that issued the guidelines on Monday did not set federal policy and did not affect what services the government would pay for.

Critics of the new guidelines said they would lead to more cancer deaths and expressed fear insurance companies would use them to justify denying coverage for mammograms to women in their 40s.

"The Task Force has presented some new evidence for consideration but our policies remain unchanged," Sebelius said in a statement.

The proposed changes address healthy women with an average risk of breast cancer, not women who have a family history of breast cancer or some other special risk.

The guidelines were swiftly rejected by cancer experts, and the American Cancer Society said it would not change its recommendations for routine mammograms starting at age 40.

Recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts sponsored by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research, typically set the standard for preventive services in the United States.

Source: Reuters

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