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Women should no longer bother systematically checking their breasts for lumps each month because the method does not save lives, the Canadian Cancer Society says.

While monthly breast self-examination is not harmful, it gives women a false sense of security and results in anxiety and unnecessary treatment, the consumer group said in explaining the policy shift.

Line Lafantaisie, co-ordinator of the cancer information service at the cancer society, said this does not mean women have no role in monitoring their health.

On the contrary, they should "get to know their breasts" and be alert to changes that may signal a problem.

"We don't recommend breast self-examination as a routine monitoring method, but we still urge women to look at and feel their breasts to detect changes in them."

Ms. Lafantaisie said the distinction, while subtle to some, is important. "You don't have to follow a specific technique or a calendar any more. You just have to know your body."

For years, breast cancer groups have distributed shower cards that outline how women should perform breast self-examination. The technique was complex and tedious, calling on women to palpate their breasts in a circular fashion standing up and lying down and urging them to do so at the same time each month, and not during their menstrual period.

Carol Pincox of Montreal was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, when she was 56. "I just put my hand over my chest one day and said 'Oop. There's a lump here.' "

She had never practised routine breast self-examination because the technique seemed demanding and unnecessary.

"Maybe I was a bit negligent, but I know my body and I figured if there was something wrong, I would know it. I guess I was right," Ms. Pincox said.

She has had surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and is in excellent health today.

Anecdotally, many breast cancer survivors credit breast self-examination with saving their lives after they discovered a lump.

But scientific studies have not demonstrated any real benefit. The reality is that women tend to find benign, non-cancerous lumps, and other methods are far more effective in detecting cancerous tumours at an earlier stage.

In its new public message, the cancer society stressed that screening is best done with mammography and clinical breast examinations conducted by a trained nurse or physician.

It is recommended that women between the ages of 50 and 69 have a mammogram every two years, but only about half actually do so.

Younger women are urged to have clinical breast exams every two years starting at the age of 40 and to discuss the risks and benefits of mammography with their physician based on their family history.

Nancy Baxter, a surgeon at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and author of a seminal research paper on breast self-examination in 2001, said the policy change is long overdue.

"People have this 'you gotta do something' attitude, so they promote breast self-examination. But, despite the advocacy, there has never been evidence that BSE is helpful in reducing mortality," she said.

Dr. Baxter said that, practically speaking, a woman would never be able to detect a lump in her breast measuring less than 1.5 centimetres across, but mammography can now detect tumours a fraction of that size.

In 2007, an estimated 22,300 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,300 will die of the disease, according to the cancer society.