I received a mailing over the weekend from John C. Fremont heralding the fact that they now have a CT scanner. While CT scans are an excellent diagnostic tool, they should not be used willy-nilly, especially on children. They pack an incredible radioactive wallop: One CT scan can be the equivalent of 442 chest x-rays. There seem to be no standards whatsoever on what is the correct amount of radiation to use, a survey of radiologists and ER physicians showed that "about 75 percent significantly underestimated the radiation dose from a CT scan," and worse yet, up to one-third of all CT scans done are medically unnecessary.

In a study released in December, the National Cancer Institute predicted that 29,000 cases of cancer would result from the 72 million CT scans done in the year 2007, with as many as 15,000 of these being fatal. The younger you are, the higher the risk.

Stop and think before you submit to a CT scan.

Roxanna Moser