Recent Press Releases
European law will restrict use of vital cancer screening techniques
PR07(06)
Wed, 23 May 2007
New European legislation threatens to restrict the use of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), the scanning technique that is vital to the early detection of cancers. Speaking at the meeting, Science and Health,today (29 March 2006), jointly organised by the Institute of Physics and other learned societies*, Professor Penny Gowland from Nottingham University described how an EU directive which will become UK law by 2008, will restrict the time that operators will be able to spend near MRI machines when they are in use. New uses of MRI, pioneered by UK hospitals, which let doctors see how treatments are working, will become prohibited under the new law.
Professor Gowland said, “The guidelines that will be imposed by the directive are overcautious and based on sparse scientific evidence. MRI is non-invasive and poses no known health risks. The magnetic resonance community is worried that these limits will curb the development of these valuable techniques and increase the reliance on other techniques that use ionizing radiation, such as X-ray and nuclear medicine.”
MRI produces detailed images of the body using magnetic fields and radio waves. It is safer than X-rays to both patients and staff as it does not use ionizing radiation, which can cause cell damage. There are almost 500 MRI scanners in UK hospitals, performing over one million examinations each year. The government has recently invested around £100 million in over 100 new scanners.
Peter Main, director of education and science at the Institute said, “MRI is a revolutionary, physics-based imaging technique. The Institute together with four other scientific organisations, has written to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee to highlight our concerns over the proposed restrictions and the effects they will have both on research into and the treatment of life-threatening diseases such as cancer. We have written to Vladimir Spidla, the commissioner for social affairs at the European Commission to call upon the Commission urgently to review this directive.”
Notes to editors:
For further information and to arrange interviews contact Helen MacBain, press officer, Institute of Physics. Tel +44 (0)20 7470 4815 or mobile 07946 321473.
E-mail:helen.macbain@iop.org.
The Institute of Physics is a scientific membership organisation devoted to increasing the understanding and application of physics. It has an extensive worldwide membership (currently over 35,000) and is a leading communicator of physics with all audiences from specialists through government to the general public. Its publishing company, Institute of Physics Publishing, is a world leader in scientific publishing and the electronic dissemination of physics.
*Other societies involved in the organisation of the seminar, Science and Health, which took place at the Royal Society on 29 March 2006were the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Biology
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