Radiation hazards in realistic perspective

JUN 01, 1962

Radiation protection standards are based on a combination of (1) very limited technical evidence, (2) technical judgment, and (3) selective judgment with regard to matters that are primarily social, political, or economic. There is virtually no information on the deleterious effects of radiation on man at the low levels recommended for radiation workers or for the population in general. These levels represent only a small fraction of the background radiation to which man has always been subjected. Moreover, any disease that can be caused by radiation can occur naturally without there being any necessary distinction as to the origin. Questions such as these, together with a discussion relative to the radiation to which man is normally exposed, were discussed in a lecture given at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna on March 31, 1960, and the present paper is an abridgment of that lecture.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3058224

Lauriston S. Taylor

That radiation in its many forms is of great value to man is not debatable. Similarly, that radiation can be received by man in harmful amounts is not debatable. The question as to whether or not there is some level of radiation exposure below which impairment will not result to man is most decidedly debatable; and, despite the enormous effort that has been directed to this point, there is no essential knowledge today which was not available ten years ago and which will lead to a specific answer to this question. It is therefore assumed with great prudence, but without proof. that any unnecessary exposure of man to radiation must be considered as harmful. Again, the degree of harm is completely undefinable for the levels of radiation to which tens of thousands of radiation workers have been exposed for the past several decades; its deleterious effects on the human system are yet to be proven.

More about the Authors

Lauriston S. Taylor. National Bureau of Standards, National Committee on Radiation Protection and Measurements.