UK complaints delay MRI scan law
UK complaints delay MRI scan law
2008-04-07Newsfeed
A European law calling for the use of MRI scanners to be restricted is being delayed following complaints from scientists and MPs in the UK.
A European law calling for the use of MRI scanners to be restricted is being delayed following complaints from scientists and MPs in the UK.
The legislation, which would have come into force in three weeks, is being postponed for at least four years thanks to evidence suggesting the potential health risks from MRI machines have been exaggerated.
A House of Commons Committee blasted the legislation in a report in 2006 expressing "alarm" that the European Commission had relied on ten-year-old information to assess the risk from MRI scanners.
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines are used to detect early signs of cancer, brain tumours and other serious illnesses, but face EU limits to their use as part of a review of the dangers to health from electromagnetic fields.
The Electromagnetic Fields Directive would have banned new MRI machines and severely limited staff operating times in the use of existing scanners.
The then House of Commons Science and Technology Committee stated: "For MRI at least, we do not believe that there was a strong enough case for enshrining exposure limits in a Directive. The Directive will, at best, impose burdens on employers and, at worst, inhibit the use of valuable diagnostic procedures and important research."
Copyright © The Press Association 2008h
