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New
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news release:
EU-Directive:
Potentially dangerous consequences for MRI
9 March 2007: In 2004, the European Union
adopted the EU Physical Agents (EMF) Directive with the laudable aim of reducing
health effects on workers linked to short-term exposure to electro-magnetic
fields, such as those emitted by mobile phones and electrical power lines, but
also by MRI systems. The Directive puts limits on the exposure of operating
staff in an extremely wide range of frequencies. MRI scans produce detailed
pictures of the inner workings of patients’ bodies using strong magnetic fields
and radio waves.
“The Directive’s proposed exposure limits threaten our ability to diagnose and
treat many patients, particularly those who are frail, anxious or anaesthetised.
Nurses and other health workers will be unable to comfort children during scans.
We will have to rely more, instead of less, on x-ray examinations of paediatric
patients, for which their age is regarded as an absolute contraindication”, said
Professor Dr. Gabriel P. Krestin (ESR Research Committee Chairman, Department of
Radiology, Universal Medical Center Rotterdam (NL)) “It will end interventional
MRI, with the loss of well-documented improved outcomes for tumour, cardiac and
other patients.”
Any decision to severely curtail the use of MRI must be based on firm scientific
evidence. MRI has been safely used for over 25 years, with over 500 million
patients exposed to time-varying magnetic fields at amplitudes up to 100 times
the occupational exposure limit, without any evidence of harm to workers or
patients. “There are no known long-term effects of exposure to magnetic fields”,
said Prof. Krestin. “This is not to argue that there should be no limits on
exposure, rather that exposure limits should be based on current scientific
knowledge. The limits proposed are huge extrapolations from largely hypothetical
conditions and are an over-cautious interpretation of very limited experimental
data.”
Due to our concerns, officials from ESR and the Directorate General for
Employment Social Affairs and Equal Opportunity of the EC have decided to
contract an independent expert group to perform an analysis of the implications
of the Directive on the clinical use of MRI, said Prof. Krestin: “Meanwhile,
interim findings from the UK Health and Safety Executive already indicate that
both exposure to switched gradient fields during image acquisition and movement
through the static field become problematic within about 1m of the magnet bore.
This would mean that almost all of the approximately 8 million MRI examinations
per year in the EU would be affected.”
“We are increasingly concerned with timing; if, as expected, the results to be
published this autumn justify our concerns, it will be very difficult to amend
the legislation prior to implementation in April 2008”, said Prof. Krestin. “We
strongly advise that the deadline for implementation of the Directive be
deferred by at least one year (to April 2009), to allow the results of the
impact assessments, being undertaken by the European Commission and the member
states, to be concluded.” This delay would allow the new scientific evidence to
be taken into account and make an amendment to the legislation possible, prior
to the deadline for implementation.
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