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]

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] by at least a factor of 10 "while..studies relating to certain types of exposure..suggest that the error is even greater".[5] The ECRR have proposed a method of re-weighting the risk factors to take into account the biophysical properties of the particular isotopes involved.[6]

Publications

Responses

Chernobyl 20 Years On is cited in a letter by Professor Rudi H. Nussbaum from Portland State University published in Environmental Health Perspectives which challenges the accepted view of the long-term health consequences from the incident.[7]

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".[8]

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. ECRR is not a formal scientific advisory committee to the European Commission or to the European Parliament
  2. 1 2 3 Staff writer (2003). "Background: the ECRR". European Committee on Radiation Risk. 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. 1 2 Staff writers (13 May 1996). "Council Directive 96/29/EURATOM" (PDF). The Council of the European Union. pp. 1; 5. 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. ↑ ECRR - CERI: The Lesvos Declaration, 6 May 2009; Retrieved 2013-03-20
  6. ↑ Cancer as an Environmental Disease by P. Nicolopoulou-Stamati p. 50.
  7. ↑ Nussbaum, Rudi (May 2007). "The Chernobyl Nuclear Catastrophe: Unacknowledged Health Detriment". Environmental Health Perspectives. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  8. ↑ Staff writers (23 July 2003). "2003 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk". Health Protection Agency. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
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