(June 14, 2010)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration taking a hard look at medical radiation because of evidence that Americans get too much of it from tests.

The average American's dose has grown six-fold in the past few decades and Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, accounting for half of the most advanced procedures that use radiation.

The consequences of too much radiation often don't show up for years and there are no federal rules on radiation dose, except for mammograms.

The FDA is looking at ways to reduce and keep track of exposure.

One idea is to require device makers to print the radiation dose on each X-ray or other image.

The FDA is also pushing industry and doctors to set standard doses for common tests such as CT scans.