Implications of ICRP 60 and the patient directive 97/43 Euratom for nuclear medicine

The Council of the European Union has completely renewed the framework regarding radiation protection by adopting 2 directives: Directive 97/43 Euratom lays down the general principles of the radiation protection of individuals undergoing exposure to ionizing radiations related to medical exposures, as a supplement of Directive 96/29 Euratom laying down the basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiations. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with these two directives before 13 May 2000. Since medical applications represent the largest man-made sources of radiation exposure for the European population and exposure to low levels of ionizing radiations has become a sensitive issue for the public, the nuclear medicine community is concerned by the set of European legislation which appear to be more restrictive than the previous one. It is based on the scientific knowledge concerning radiation protection as expressed in particular in Recommendation No. 60 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. In this paper, the directives are carefully analyzed and evaluated in terms of their potential impact on nuclear medicine practice.