Ionizing radiation exposure can cause cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, pneumonia, kidney disease, fertility issues and even cataracts , but for some reason, we ignore the ionizing radiation from medical tests. Probably because our doctors tell us that the radiation is "low dose" and "safe". But do they actually know the dose? It's highly unlikely. Most physicians have little radiation training in medical school except, in some cases, they are trained to "reduce radiation phobias" in patients to encourage patients to get the radiation tests.

There are some clinicians that are aware of the dose and the side effects of medical radiation. They tend to steer away from CT and x-ray and instead order ultrasound and MRI. These clinicians seem to do everything they can to minimize exposure to medical radiation and even strongly discourage it. However, with approximately 100,000,000 CT scans ordered in 2022, it doesn't seem like that's the majority.

Besides that, no one is monitoring the amount of radiation we are exposed to when we go to the dentist and get a dental x-ray, or when we go the gynecologist who insists we get a mammogram or when we go to the ER and have to get a CT scan. How much radiation are we exposed to? We don't know. No one is tracking it. 

The reality is that the majority of diagnostic medical tests have ionizing radiation. Out of the 70 diagnostic medical tests we reviewed, 67 of them had ionizing radiation. 

The most troubling part about medical radiation is how many lives are lost because of it, and no one knows or is talking about it. Researchers assume 2% of patients exposed to ionizing radiation in CT scans acquire cancer from their medical test. If 100 million CT scans are performed, that's 2 million people each year that get cancer from their medical test and have no clue that's how they got it. 

Another research publication said that 1 out of every 2000 patients get terminal cancer and die from CT scans. If 100 million people get CT scans in one year, that's 50,000 people that die from cancer caused by CT scans each year. Why isn't anyone talking about this or doing anything about this?

They say it's because there is no alternative. That mammography is the only option to diagnose breast cancer. That's not true and we all know it. What diagnostic test is performed after a mammogram if there is something suspicious? An ultrasound. An ultrasound is ordered to confirm the findings on the mammogram. Why not perform the ultrasound first?

If the medical field is supposed to follow the Hippocratic Oath and first do no harm, then they should order ultrasounds first. If the ultrasound is performed first, it is possible that there will be no need for ionizing radiation of a mammogram. Besides that mammograms are painful and, if there is a tumor in our breasts and we squeeze them in a vice, it's possible the capsule that surrounds the tumor could rupture and spread cancer cells through our body. If I had a choice, I would choose ultrasound first. But I don't have a choice. Not because a safer diagnostic method doesn't exist, but because some insurance companies won't pay for an ultrasound without a mammogram first. They believe our breasts have to be radiated first before we can have a completely safe, painless and radiation-free ultrasound. There was a time when I believed men should get scrotalgrams. It's only fair. But most men would not put their testicles in a vice and radiate them in order to see if they have testicular cancer. They would be sterile and might get cancer from the radiation in the scrotalgram. It's interesting isn't it? That women put their breasts, the breasts that feed their children, into a vice and have them radiated in order to see if there is cancer, but men don't do that with their superficial organs. The only tool used to detect testicular cancer is ultrasound. Testicular cancer is 98% curable. What would happen if breast cancer diagnosis was like testicular cancer diagnosis and we only used ultrasound? Isn't is likely that the incidence of breast cancer would decrease? We won't know unless we have the option. 

I am trying to petition for an option. Not just for women, but for all of us. Men, women and children deserve to be respected and treated with the utmost safety in the medical field. This means we need to know what is being done to us before it is done. How much radiation are we being exposed to before we are exposed? And is there an alternative? And if there is an alternative, will our doctor order it? Will our insurance pay for it? 

These questions are tackled head on with the Diagnostic Ionizing Radiation Exposure (DIRE) Act.

The DIRE Act educates patients and clinicians about the doses and effects of DIRE. The DIRE Act monitors the amount of DIRE each patient is exposed to each year with a Radiation Registry. Both clinicians and patients will have access to the registry.

There is a complete lack of education, monitoring and regulation in medical diagnostic procedures that have ionizing radiation.

Tens and even hundreds of millions of individuals in the United States and around the globe are impacted by this. Patients are not fully informed of the risks, the potential side effects or the long-term consequences. 

Without the DIRE Act, nothing will change, except even more tests and treatments using ionizing radiation will be ordered. We are all at risk of overexposure to ionizing radiation, which causes cancer and other significant health complications.

Medical professionals do not currently have the necessary tools and guidance to accurately assess the dose delivery and scatter, potentially leading to dose errors that can have severe consequences for patients' health. The DIRE Act provides medical professionals with the tools needed to keep us, and them, safe.

The DIRE Act proposes a comprehensive approach to addressing this issue, including requirements for dose education, setting and mandating dose limits, measuring dose in real-time, monitoring dose delivery, assessing dose scatter, and storing dose exposure data. The act also provides for research into dose data, reporting of dose errors and reporting cancers caused by ionizing radiation exposure.

Now is the time to act on this critical issue. The increasing use of medical diagnostic procedures involving ionizing radiation, combined with the potential risks of overexposure, demands immediate action. The DIRE Act provides a necessary framework to ensure that patients receive the highest standard of care and protection when undergoing such procedures.

I urge you to sign this petition to encourage the Senate and Legislative Committees to support the passage of the DIRE Act, which will ensure that dose education, monitoring, and regulation become a standard part of medical diagnostic procedures involving ionizing radiation, and will help prevent needless suffering and loss of life.

For more information and further details please visit www.direact.org