Tom Cruise's Sonograms Ruled Dangerous  4/18/06

Controversial actor Tom Cruise has infuriated health experts again after he admitted he performed sonograms on his pregnant fiancée Katie Holmes "a lot".

When Cruise announced last year (05) he had purchased a $200,000 ultrasound scanner to check on his unborn child, the American College Of Radiology (ACR) urged the actor to enroll the help of a qualified radiologist and warned him he could face legal action for performing unlicensed sonograms.

In an interview in the May (06) issue of GQ magazine, Cruise admits, "I'm a film-maker - I need to see the rushes.

"At first we did it a lot. I don't know how many times, but I did not exceed FDA (Food & Drug Administration) regulations."

Following Cruise's latest revelations, ACR released a statement yesterday (17APR06) saying, "Cruise's claim to be qualified to perform unsupervised ultrasound exams on his fiancée, Katie Holmes, because he 'read the manual'

that came with the machine is irresponsible, potentially dangerous, and may incorrectly influence others to place their unborn children at risk by performing such exams with no medical supervision.

"Radiologist physicians, certain other doctors, and ultrasound technologists receive years of specialized education and training in order to safely and effectively perform these exams. Others should not think that unsupervised use of medical equipment is completely safe and should, under no circumstances, view fetal keepsake videos as a substitute for appropriate medical attention or emulate Mr Cruise's reported unsupervised use of ultrasound equipment."