An opinion poll revealed that more than 8 out of 10 women perceive the new guidelines that do not recommend routine breast cancer screening for women below the age of 50 as unsafe.

However, University of Massachusetts Medical School researchers in Worcester found out that the majority of the women gravely overestimate their risk to develop the disease.

A group of independent experts funded by the government decided to change its recommendations in late 2009. This flared up the controversy over breast cancer screening through mammography.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advised that women should only get routine breast cancer screening when they reach the age of 50 and not 40. The group also recommended that women between the age of 50 and 74 should only get mammograms every other year.

But, the group did not say that no women below 50 years old should be screened for breast cancer. They said the decision would be left to the woman and her doctor, based on the individual’s risk factors and preferences. Still, the recommendations faced staunch resistance from medical and advocacy groups, as well as from news organizations.

The opinion poll was carried out by Autumn Davidson and her colleagues to find out what women really think about it. They gave answer forms to 247 women in their 40s, who also came to the hospital for their yearly well-woman health screening.

The survey showed that 8 out of 10 women felt that the new guidelines were not safe and wanted annual mammograms. They said they would not delay the screening until the age of 50.

Verizon Wireless announced on Tuesday that they will be selling their version of the iPhone 4 starting February 10 of this year. This gives iPhone buyers in the United States a different choice of carrier for the first time after three and a half years.

The iPhone has been sold exclusively by the wireless carrier AT&T Inc since it was released to the U.S market in 2007.  Many people were frustrated by this lack of network choice.

The launch event held on Tuesday finally ended the monopoly on Apple Inc’s iPhone. Many people are already excited to get this phone in their hands through the Verizon network.

Tim Cook can not even tell the number of times he has been asked by his colleagues about when the iPhone will work for the Verizon Wirelss, the Apple chief operating officer said on the Tuesday’s event.

For existing Verizon customers, the pre-orders for iPhone will start on February 3. The given price will be $200 or $300 along with a two-year contract. That is about the same price and concurrence as the iPhone through AT&T.

With wider domestic network coverage than AT&T, Verizon is thought to offer better features particularly for the older “3G” wireless broadband. The carrier covers several areas within the country that AT&T does not.

In addition, iPhone service by AT&T in big cities can be spotty most likely because of crowding in the network.

However, it is still unclear as to how many people will shift from AT&T to Verizon. Verizon did not mention anything about their iPhone’s service plan along with pricing on Tuesday.

AT&T has sold about 11.1 million iPhones in a period of nine months in 2010. Analysts are expecting Verizon to sell about 5 to 13 million iPhones this year.

A study found that those children whose mothers consumed a lot of peanuts during pregnancy may be at greater risk to develop an allergy to the nuts. In addition, the more peanuts the mothers consumed, the greater the chances are for the children to develop it.

However, it still isn’t apparent if the mother’s consumption of peanuts can actually lead to the grave and potentially fatal allergy that seems to be on the rise, which is currently affecting about 1 percent of children.

The study was initiated by Scott Sicherer of Mount Sinai School of Medicine located at New York City, as well as a team of colleagues from five places across United States.

They studied 500 infants who likely had egg or milk allergy. However, these infants, aged between 3 and 15 months old, have no known peanut allergy, and most have not yet tried eating peanuts.

Researchers found that more than a quarter showed strong reaction in a “sensitivity test” with peanuts, and children of mothers who had eaten peanuts during pregnancy have about three times chance to show signs of the allergy.

However, the study reveals that consuming peanuts while the mother is breastfeeding did not appear to cause a significant effect on children.

Sicherer and his team explain that the children only underwent blood tests for peanut sensitivity. The test is not the same as those actually done to diagnose an allergy. The team is still continuing the study by following the children to identify what allergies may come and go.