The rampant fear-mongering rhetoric that has framed much of the media's response to the recommendations seems to have focused primarily on individual women and doctors who are outraged.
The USPSTF is an independent group of physicians and academic experts, not a government agency that makes policy. Even H.H.S. Secretary Sebelius said the Task Force has presented some new evidence for consideration (by the Senate or whomever) but (H.H.S.) policies remain unchanged.
And the Task Force recommendations state quite clearly that the decision about mammography screening before age 50 should be an individual one and take into account patient context, including the patient's values regarding specific benefits and harms.
Remember the non-nuanced advice women got for decades about menopausal hormone replacement therapy?
Groups like the National Women's Health Network first raised doubts about the value of mammography screening in women under 50 back in 1993. Cynthia Pearson, long-time executive director of the National Women's Health Network, wrote on their website:
We’re glad that the [U.S. Preventive Services Task Force] has done what they’re supposed to do. They’ve told the truth about what studies have found, and now women have a better chance of getting an honest assessment about the value of a heavily promoted technology. Information is always a good thing and we’re glad more women now have access to good information.
But, I’m not at all happy today. Not even to be proven right about things that I took a lot of criticism for saying. Rather, I’m outraged. We’ve known for 16 years that mammography screening doesn’t work well for women before menopause, and not at all for women under 40. And at the same time, we’ve known that a significant number of breast cancer cases occur in women under 50. So once we knew mammography wasn’t good enough, the next step was obvious – we need to find something better.