Public health: protection of individuals against ionizing radiation in medical exposures (repl. Direct. 84/466/Euratom)

In its amended proposal, the Commission incorporated 10 of the 12 amendments adopted by the European Parliament in plenary. The amendments incorporated concerned the following points: -the purpose of the Directive is to supplement Directive 96/29/EURATOM on basic safety standards as regards medical exposures, -insertion of a definition of 'potential exposures' and modification of the definition of 'medical physicist', deleting the reference to his responsibilities regarding the protection of workers and the public, -insertion of provisions concerning the optimum quality of the functioning of radiological equipment, -reference to national provisions with regard to the responsibilities of the prescriber and practitioner, -prohibition of exposures without direct health benefit for the person undergoing them, -insertion of a paragraph on taking out of service or replacing equipment and installations which do not comply with acceptability criteria, -strengthening of the role of medical physicists in checking equipment used in radiotherapy, -inclusion of exposures for radiotherapeutic purposes in the article on training of medical and paramedical staff, -improved protection of pregnant women in the case of exposure of the pelvic and abdominal regions. However, the Commission did not accept the amendment seeking to make it possible for every radiological unit to consult a medical physicist. Nor did it accept the amendment concerning the 'examining doctor' (rather than 'practitioner').�