Update, November 2006

Government response

At the end of October the Government and Health Protection Agency (HPA) responses to the Science & Technology Select Committee’s (STC) report on the Physical Agents Directive (PAD) were published (get the STC’s report here). You can download the responses here.

Although they defer as much blame as possible, it is significant that both the Government and HPA accept fault in some of the processes and procedures that led to PAD.

HSE Working Party on MRI/PAD

On 8th November the HSE Working Party on MRI and PAD met. The following notes were provided by a member of the Working Party.

Work in Europe

The meeting was attended by someone from HSE International Branch, who represents HSE in Europe and is currently chair of the Commission’s Advisory Committee on Health and Safety. He reported that

The remit of the EMF working party is probably being extended from just implementation of the Directive to include the MRI issue as well.
Commission officials have accepted that if research shows there is a problem then either the exposure limits will have to change or implementation of the Directive will have to be delayed, such a move would require political agreement of member states.
It is now known that Finland will implement the Directive with a specific exclusion for MRI, Germany will ‘issue guidelines’, Poland and Netherlands are also very concerned, and there is movement in France now. France is considered the key country to win over.
HSE are lobbying the European Parliament in case a change needs to go through the co-decision mechanism.
John Hutton, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is going to visit Brussels later this month and will lobby DG EMPL officials and Commissioner Spidla.

Research

A report on Stuart Crozier’s initial results was presented, although not the detailed results themselves. This work confirms that the exposure limits are exceeded close to the scanner, vindicating the position taken by the MR community.

The Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs has produced a large document on implementation of the Directive which highlights the impact on MRI. It contains no new results, but nevertheless it does acknowledge that there is a serious problem.

HSE consultation

HSE will be going to public consultation on implementation of the Directive in the New Year. They have yet to decide how to approach the MRI issue and are concerned that they will be overwhelmed by complaints from the medical community. While a joint response of the MR community could be arranged, no-one would want to prevent others from expressing concerns individually as well.

Department of Health involvement

DH has produced a note on the impact on MRI, suggesting that 5% of MRI exams may be affected and patients may have to have CT instead with resulting radiation dose.

European Commission Expert Group on MRI/PAD

On 14th November the European Commission Expert Group on MRI and PAD met in Brussels. As with the recent meeting with the HSE, it was a very positive meeting and there are clear signs of movement.

Research

The specification for the exposure measurements that the Commission is going to fund has been agreed. A contractor will be appointed in April following a tender process, and the first results are expect in the late summer of 2007. MR members of the Expert Group will be fully involved in selecting the contractor and reviewing the results. Four MR centres in different European countries have been nominated: it is thought that these represent ‘worst case’ for exposure in MRI (ultrahigh field, GA at 3T with staff in room, intervention on a high-field open system, paediatric GA at 1.5T). This research will complement the work already being carried out by Stuart Crozier for HSE.

A change of emphasis

Commission officials have said that the aim of the Directive is to protect workers, not to jeopardise medical practice. They have accepted that there could perhaps be a relaxation of the limits.
If research shows that there is a problem the Commission could propose delaying implementation for medical MRI until agreement on this is reached. Such a proposal would have to be considered by the Parliament and Council of Ministers (so lobbying member states remains very important). This is a dramatic change from the Commission’s previous, hard-line position.

Last updated: December 04 2006