Brussels, 20/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Society of Radiology continues to be concerned about the consequences of the directive on risks due to physical agents on the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in European hospitals, and it made its concerns known to Commissioner Vladimir Spidla and MEPs at a lunch organised by Austrian Socialist MEP Hannes Swoboda on Wednesday 13 June. Dr Stephen Keevil, Consultant Physicist and Adviser on MRI Safety at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, presented evidence which showed that the exposure limits set out in the European directive were exceeded for every person within roughly one metre of an MRI machine during imaging. It had also been shown that limits were exceeded when staff walked at a speed of one metre per second at a distance of 0.5 to 1 metre from an MRI machine, even when it was not operating. The legislation would have an impact on the installation, maintenance, cleaning and calibration of equipment and on patient care, and could make the use of MRI difficult. The Alliance for MRI has called on the European Commission to send the European Parliament and EU member states the new scientific evidence and to urgently propose excluding MRI from the scope of the directive on physical risks. In a press release the European Society of Radiology said it was imperative that the Commission acted on the scientific evidence now available to ensure that the directive was amended before coming into effect (on 30 April 2008). It was neither satisfactory nor sufficient, it went on, for the Commission to say it would not begin infringement procedures from 1 May 2008 since, without amending the directive, it was the hospitals and research institutes which would be held responsible. (oj)