The Health Effects of Ionising Radiation Exposure at Low Doses and Low Dose Rates for Radiation Protection Purposes: Regulators’ Edition

Edited by Chris Busby with Rosalie Bertell, Inge Schmitz-Feuerhake, Molly Scott Cato and Alexei Yablokov
Published on Behalf of the European Committee on Radiation Risk
Comité Européen sur le Risque de l’Irradiation, Brussels
by Green Audit, 2003.
ISBN: 1 897761 24 4

The committee dedicates this volume to the memory of Alice Mary Stewart, the first scientist to establish the health effects of exposure to low dose radiation. Professor Stewart agreed to be the first Chair of the European Committee on Radiation Risk. Sadly, she did not live to see this first report completed.

This first report of the European Committee on Radiation Risk is intended for regulators and those who have to make decisions about the health effects of radioactive releases. It presents a rational model for calculating the health risks of exposure to ionising radiation. Unlike the existing framework of modelling radiation risk, the ECRR model uses evidence from the most recent research, from new discoveries in radiation biology and from human epidemiology to create a system of calculation which gives results which are in agreement both with the mechanism of radiation action at the level of the living cell and observation of disease in exposed population.

There is increasing concern over the dissonance between the modelling of health outcomes of radioactive releases to the environment and the observations. In this volume the committee explains how the present risk model came to be universally used and points out its shortcomings. In addition the committee addresses the ethical basis of releasing radioactive materials to the environment.

The volume is essential reading for anyone involved in legislation in this area and should also be of interest to members of the public who need to estimate the effects of nuclear discharges.

The committee is anxious to make this volume widely available and therefore has decided to set aside copies to be sold at a concession price for those individuals, students, etc. who may find the full price beyond their means.

It is available direct from Green Audit, Castle Cottage, Sea View Place, Aberystywth SY231DZ, or by emailing admin@greenaudit.com

Price: £45.00 + £2.00 postage / €75.00 + €5.00 (Concession price £UK 15 / €25.00)