Members of Parliament, patient groups, leading European scientists and the medical community have launched a coalition called 'Alliance for MRI'. Members of Parliament, patient groups, leading European scientists and the medical community joined forces in Vienna on 9 March to launch a coalition called 'Alliance for MRI'. The Alliance's aim is to prevent the European Union from limiting clinical and research use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

In 2004, the European Union adopted legislation to reduce health effects on workers linked to short-term exposure to electro-magnetic fields.

Governments are now working to ensure its implementation by the April 2008 deadline. The coalition affirms, however, that the original impact assessment, ten years old at the time, did not cover social and economic consequences.

The Directive will introduce new restrictions on the use of MRI, including the ban of MRI for interventional and surgical procedures.

Prof. Gabriel P. Krestlin, Professor of Radiology at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, estimates the new restrictions could affect up to eight million MRI examinations performed in the EU per year.

They include more than 400,000 procedures involving children or the very sick, 80,000 patients under anesthesia and 10,000 undergoing interventional MRI procedures.

"It is essential that this major advance in healthcare technology is not threatened by burdensome legislation when concerns can be addressed through responsible guidance to medical and service personnel", Professor Gourtsoyiannis, President of the European Society of Radiology, said.

The Alliance's founding members are the European Society of Radiology, the European Federation of Neurological Associations and Dr. Swoboda MEP, Vice-Chairman of the Socialist Group.

The Alliance for MRI is insisting that any decision to severely curtail the use of the tool be based on firm, up-to-date scientific evidence. It points out that MRI has been safely employed for 25 years with more than 500 million patients exposed to up to 100 times the occupational exposure limit set by the Directive.

The Alliance for MRI is asking the European Commission to:

1. Inform national authorities of the legislation's 'unintended consequences'.

2. Request a delay in implementation until the results of an impact assessment now taking place are known.

3. Propose an amendment to the Directive, introducing an EU-wide derogation for MRI.

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