WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal task force recommended today that men more than 75 years old should not bother with prostate cancer screenings and questioned if men of any age benefit from them.

The new recommendations are raising eyebrows among some in the medical community.

But the panel says it's unclear if the screenings reduce the death rate from prostate cancer and says the risks inherent in treatment based on routine screening may not be worth it.

The panel says that's because some prostate cancer tumors can take years to grow to a dangerous level and won't pose a risk during the remaining years of an elderly person's life.

But the recommendations are controversial because prostate cancer is the number two cancer killer of men, afflicting more than 200,000 Americans every year and killing about 28,000.