European Committee on Radiation Risk

The European Committee on Radiation Risk (ECRR) is an informal[1] committee formed in 1997 following a meeting by the European Green Party at the European Parliament to review the Council of Europe's directive 96/29Euratom, issued in May of the previous year.[2]

Contents

First meeting

The Council of Europe directive was a wide-ranging ruling regarding the use and transport of natural and artificial radioactive materials within the European Union,[3] but the inaugural ECRR meeting concentrated on the proposal of Article 4.1.c: "...radioactive substances in the production and manufacture of consumer goods...".[2]

The EU legislators had found it convenient to incorporate the findings of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) model for assessing radiation risk from internal emitters,[3] but the ECRR challenged this and suggested that the model underestimates the risks.[4] The ECRR have proposed a method of re-weighting the risk factors to take into account the biophysical properties of the particular isotopes involved.[5]

Responses

The Committee has published two works, the ECRR 2003 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk: Health Effects of Ionising Radiation Exposure at Low Doses for Radiation Protection Purposes. Regulators' Edition; and ECRR Chernobyl 20 Years On: the Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident. Chernobyl 20 Years On is cited in one Pubmed-published document: a review by Professor Rudi H. Nussbaum from Portland State University which challenges the accepted view of the long-term health consequences from the incident.[6] Shortly after the 2003 Recommendations was published the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency issued a response, in which they describe the ECRR as "...a self-styled organisation with no formal links to official bodies" and criticize its findings as "arbitrary and [without] a sound scientific basis. Furthermore, there are many misrepresentations of [the] ICRP".[7]

Membership

Alice Stewart was the first Chair of the ECRR. The Chair of the Scientific Committee is Professor Inge Schmitz-Feuerhake. Christopher Busby is Scientific Secretary.[2]

References

  1. ^ Blears, Hazel (4 March 2003). "Written answers: Radiation". Hansard (Parliament of the United Kingdom). http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo030304/text/30304w29.htm. "ECRR is not a formal scientific advisory committee to the European Commission or to the European Parliament" 
  2. ^ a b c Staff writer (2003). "Background: the ECRR". European Committee on Radiation Risk. http://www.euradcom.org/. Retrieved 2009-06-18. "...formed in 1997 following a resolution made at a conference in Strasbourg arranged by the Green Group in the European Parliament." 
  3. ^ a b Staff writers (13 May 1996). "Council Directive 96/29/EURATOM". The Council of the European Union. pp. 1; 5. http://ec.europa.eu/energy/nuclear/radioprotection/doc/legislation/9629_en.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-18. 
  4. ^ McRae, Don M. (2005). The Canadian yearbook of international law, 2005 Annuaire canadien de droit international, 2005. Vancouver, B.C.: Publication Centre, University of British Columbia. p. 217. ISBN 0-7748-1359-8. 
  5. ^ Cancer as an Environmental Disease by P. Nicolopoulou-Stamati p. 50.
  6. ^ Nussbaum, Rudi (May 2007). "The Chernobyl Nuclear Catastrophe: Unacknowledged Health Detriment". Environmental Health Perspectives. U.S. National Library of Medicine. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1867971. Retrieved 2009-06-18. 
  7. ^ Staff writers (23 July 2003). "2003 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk". Health Protection Agency. http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733710621?p=1158945066127. Retrieved 2009-06-18.