A resolution supporting the campaign to lower the radiation dose used in the imaging of children was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
H. Res. 1216, introduced on May 20, is sponsored by Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., and cosponsored by Reps. Lois Capps, D-Calif., Steve Israel, D-N.Y., and Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, the co-chairs of the Congressional Cancer Caucus.
It specifically “encourages radiologists, radiologic technologists, medical physicists, pediatricians, other pediatric health care providers, and parents to consider the different needs of children when it comes to radiation dosing.” Specifically, it calls attention to "a need to tailor techniques used in pediatric imaging to children’s smaller bodies to avoid radiation exposures that are greater than necessary." "Children’s body tissues are more radiosensitive," it points out, " and children absorb a larger dose for a given level of radiation than adults."
Furthermore, the resolution applauds “radiation protection efforts in pediatric imaging so that children may be properly diagnosed and efficiently treated for injury and disease.”
The measure’s next stop is the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
