Why isn the Consumer-Patient Radiation Health & Safety Act of 1981 enforceable?
The CPRHSA was lobbied by the ASRT for more than 15 years. When the bill was on the Senate floor for the final vote, a political bargain was struck to ensure the bill’s passage. As a result, the enforcement mechanism was stripped out in an amendment. This law directed the HHS to develop regulations specifying the education and credentialing of radiographers, radiation therapists, dental radiographers, sonographers and nuclear medicine technologists, but there are no legally enforceable penalties for states that choose not to comply. In 1985, the ASRT initiated legal action requiring the HHS to promulgate the regulations (42 CFR 75); however, states face no penalty for not meeting the HHS regulations. The regulations are now considered to be “federally-recommended guidelines” for states to follow.
