MRIs should be safe. It's the unnecessary CT scans you want to avoid. Those blast you with x-rays and increase your risk of cancer by a non-negligible amount.
Not really. The absolute worst estimates for CT scans increasing your risk of fatal cancer is around 1 in every 2,000 scans. That statistic almost certainly isn't true, since we'd see skyrocketing cancer rates since the development of CT scans, which we haven't. But even assuming it was true, that's pretty close to a "negligible" risk. 1 in 5 people will die from cancer. That's 400 out of 2000. Getting a CT scan makes your risk 401 out of 2000 in the worst possible scenario. If anything, that's an argument for more CT scans (as long as they're necessary or preventative), especially if you're at risk for certain types of cancer and could detect it early with preventative scans. MRIs would be better in that case, but you aren't going to die from a CT.
MRIs on healthy, asymptomatic individuals are not "safe," they cause harm due to overdiagnosis and overtreatment. I know TFA was a long read but it explains it, CTRL-F "turtle" to get to the part about tumors specifically. Here's a similar explanation: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-skeptical-look-at-screeni...
Agreed - I was simply stating that the act of getting an MRI does not cause harm, whereas some other tests (CT scans, X-rays, etc.) actually cause harm during the course of the test. I certainly would not recommend healthy people to get MRIs. But if something is really messed up in your body, an MRI is one of the safer imaging techniques (albeit expensive and not always the best for the job).