PANORAMA CITY : Zoning Board Backs Plans for MRI Center

A Panorama City man lost an appeal Tuesday to prevent a local medical center from installing a permanent multiple resonance imaging (MRI) facility near his home.

In challenging plans for the permanent MRI building at the Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center at 13652 Cantara St., 72-year-old Thomas Natoli argued before the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals that the electromagnetic field created by MRI equipment has not been proven safe.

MRI scanners are used by doctors to diagnose diseases such as cancer. They combine bursts of radio waves with magnetic fields to produce images.

In denying Natoli’s appeal, the board voted to move the facility about 10 feet from the planned location. “They concluded that there wasn’t any danger, but they wanted the neighbors to know they were sensitive to their concerns,” said Anne Howell, a city planner.

Speaking after the hearing, Natoli said he will consider filing a lawsuit.

“I don’t know that I want to be a guinea pig,” Natoli said, citing studies which have not conclusively demonstrated the effect of electromagnetic fields on humans. Natoli’s home on Ventura Canyon Avenue is 277 feet from the MRI facility.

But Bruce Horn, regional director of medical physics for Kaiser Permanente, said Natoli is in no danger.

“He’s subjected to higher electromagnetic fields from the appliances in his house than he is from this scanner 277 feet away,” Horn said.

Jeff Lambert, a land use coordinator for Kaiser, said there has been a portable MRI facility at the location four days a week for the past four years, with no complaints of harmful side effects.