Ah. Modern medicine. Kills you sooner or later.

A former Food and Drug Administration scientist said Tuesday his job was eliminated after he raised concerns about the risks of radiation exposure from high-grade medical scanning.

Dr. Julian Nicholas told an audience of imaging specialists that he and other FDA staffers ''were pressured to change their scientific opinion,'' by managers in the agency's medical device division.

Nicholas, now a physician at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, said he and eight other staffers raised their concerns with the division's top director last September.

''Scientific and regulatory review process for medical devices was being distorted by managers who were not following the laws,'' Nicholas said. A month later Nicholas' position was ''terminated,'' he said. ...NYT/AP