The European Directive will halt use of MRI scans and cancer diagnosis and treatment will suffer because the Electromagnetic Fields Directive 2004/40/EC in all EU Member States. This was reported by a scientist who spoke at a press conference at the recent European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14).

Drafted by DG Employment, the Directive aims to minimize workers' exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF). There are currently 8 million MRI patient examinations per year performed in Europe, according to Professor Dag Rune Olsen, who works in experimental radiation therapy at the Norwegian Radiation Hospital, Oslo, Norway, and is chairman of the physics committee of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO). He says that these are likely to have to stop, since the Directive sets limits to occupational radiation exposure meaning that anyone working or moving near MRI equipment will breach them, thus making it possible for them to sue their employers. Even those maintaining or servicing the equipment may be affected according to Dr. Olsen.

Operator exposure was also studied by a British group who published in the Health and Safety Executive in June 2007, and was carried out by Professor Stuart Crozier from Brisbane University, Australia. Dr. Crozier found that anyone standing within about one meter of an MRI scanner in use would breach the exposure limits laid down in the directive. The Commission has accepted this, and said that it will consider the HSE report along with the study it has commissioned. It is due to be published in October 2007 after figuring out how to propose amendments or to extend the implementation period.
Professor Olsen feels that it may be too late. He says that Svakii has already implemented the directive on the grounds that it was based on the assumption that the limits set would have no effects -- meaning that it is now illegal to carry out MRI scanning in the country.

In its present form, the directive poses particular problems to those healthcare staff who care for patients, especially children and the elderly, or those who have been anesthetized -- who need help and a certain amount of comfort during scans. It will also stop the use of MRI for interventional and surgical procedures and will curtail cutting edge research.

A recent Eurobarometer (done in Europe) showed that most EU citizens felt that they were inadequately protected by authorities against the potential health risk posed by electromagnetic fields. More than two-thirds of people interviewed said that they were not satisfied with the information they received on EMF, and one-third said that they had not been informed at all.

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