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The Alliance for MRI welcomes the European Parliament's approval on February 19 of the request by the European Commission to postpone the of EU Directive on electromagnetic fields to protect MRI for a period of 4 years in order to have sufficient time to review the EU Physical Agents Directive 2004/40/EC (EMF).

This important vote represents another major, laudable step forward in the right direction. The European Parliament approved the postponement with a clear majority. Following the positive vote in the Parliament, the next major step in the legislative procedure will be the vote at the Council of Ministers, which is expected at the end of February.

The Directive will be delayed by four years until 30th April 2012 to allow time for a substantive amendment to be adopted. Prior to a proposal being adopted, the European Commission will be undertaking a comprehensive impact assessment of the Directive and a broad stakeholder consultation. The Alliance for MRI and its members look forward to contributing to this process.

The Alliance for MRI remains concerned, however, that a number of member states have proceeded with transposition of the Directive, and calls on the European Commission to address this situation.

The current published Directive prevents healthcare staff from assisting or caring for patients during MR imaging. As a result, some patients who cannot be imaged without this care -- if they are young, elderly, frail or confused -- would either be denied imaging or have to undergo alternative procedures such as X-rays.

The safety of MRI workers is already regulated by the EU Medical Devices Directive (amend. Direct 93/42/EEC) and the established MR safety standard IEC/EN 60601-2-33 (as amended to include users and workers). The IEC standard establishes limit values for time-varying electromagnetic fields which have been set so that any danger to patients and workers is excluded.