20100328 - Urgent warnings by government experts about the risks of routinely using powerful CT scans to screen patients for colon cancer were brushed aside by the Food and Drug Administration ... The average lifetime dose of diagnostic radiation has increased sevenfold since 1980, driven in part by the increasing popularity of CT scans. Such scans can deliver the radiation equivalent of 400 chest X-rays ... The use of CT scans to screen healthy patients for cancer is particularly controversial ... gastroenterologists, who often own and use camera scopes, often favor their own methods ... Scores of internal agency documents made available to New York Times show that agency managers sought to approve an application by General Electric to allow the use of CT scans for colon cancer screenings over the repeated objections of agency scientists ... Dr. Julian Nicholas ... gastroenterologist ... felt strongly that approving the application could "expose a number of Americans to a risk of radiation that is unwarranted and may lead to instances of solid organ abdominal cancer" ... Dr. Robert Smith ... agreed with Dr. Nicholas because "the increased radiation exposure to the population could be substantial and would raise a serious public health/public policy issue (by G. Harris in New York Times).
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