Professor Olsen explained that "in the medical field, the use of MRI may lead to more exposure to radiation rather than less." He went on to say that MRI has to a certain extent contributed to a limit in the increase of the use of ionizing radiation in medical imaging, for example, in CT scans. This is important with respect to radiation-related cancer mortality risks and is in line with requirements laid down in EURATOM Directive 97/43 regarding optimization and justification of medical exposure to ionizing radiation. "If the public were informed of this I am sure that they would be as keen as I am to see that MRI is allowed to continue. The added value that MRI represents to medical diagnostics has been tremendous," stated Dr. Olsen.

Dr. Olsen said that policy-making should be based on sound science, and to his knowledge there is no scientific evidence of long-term adverse health effects of exposure to static or fluctuating magnetic fields that are commonly found during MR scanning. "Hasty decisions without scientific support will in this case have a severe impact on medical diagnostics and must thus be avoided. I hope that the Commission will allow a delay in implementation to enable it to examine this issue again and that the Directive could be amended to allow an EU-wide derogation for MRI," he concluded.

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