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 |
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]
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]
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]