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Two leading MEPs Dr Liese and Stephen Hughes, together with prominent healthcare professionals and leading European patient groups will launch a Parliamentary campaign to safeguard the future use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners.

These scanners have a proven record and have saved the lives of thousands of cancer, heart and neurological patients.

In early 2010 the European Parliament and Council will be sent a proposal from the European Commission to amend Directive 2004/40/EC on electromagnetic fields. This revision is as a result of the concerns raised by the Alliance for MRI and a recognition by the EU institutions that the Directive severely curtails the use of MRI to the detriment of patients in Europe.

Founding members of the Alliance for MRI, the European Society of Radiology (ESR), and the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA), will call on members of the newly elected European Parliament to support a derogation for all uses of MRI from the exposure limits set in the EU Physical Agents Directive 2004/40/EC (EMF).

The Alliance for MRI aims to ensure that the threat posed by the EU Physical Agents 2004/40/EC (EMF) to the future of MR is averted and that patients in Europe will not be precluded from state-of-the-art healthcare services. Europe currently holds a leading position in the research and development of this technology and patients are provided with the highest standard of care.

The exposure limits in the Directive have now been proven to be detrimental to patient care, most notably restricting and limiting the use of MRI in interventional applications and in imaging vulnerable patients and children where closer patient contact is required. Furthermore, new research and developments in MRI will be severely restricted as will routine cleaning and maintenance of MRI equipment.

MRI has been used for over 25 years, imaging up to 500 million patients without evidence of harm to workers due to EMF exposure. It is also well known that MRI is free from health risks associated with ionizing radiation such as x-rays, which would form the alternative to MRI in many situations.

Source: Alliance for MRI

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