10
R. SCOTT RUSSELL
it would be unnecessary to examine other foods. However,if there is only
a short interruption of milk production the necessity for this work is
doubtful, provided that the operationof the establishment is known to be
normal.
.
Surveys of the type here suggested involve only a few dozen measurements
per year.
Finally a question which, strictly, lies beyond the scope of this paper
may be considered. Sometimes it is suggested that environmental surveys
greatly exceeding those here suggested are both justified and desirable, if
not for scientific reasons, because they have an excellent effect on public
relations. As against this view, is it not possible that considerably greater
public confidence might be encouraged if it became widely known that the
major potential risk had been so clearly identified that a limited programme
was wholly adequate? There may, indeed, be somejustification for suggesting
that the design of environmental surveys should only be entrusted to those
who, though fully conscious of the importance of ensuring safety in the
environment are, in modern parlance, strongly motivated to reserve their
energies as much as possible for more productive tasks. These will necessarily be persons who see the problems of environmental surveys in true
perspective.
REFERENCES
2.
3.
Dunster, H. J. This Symposium, p. 29.
International Commission on Radiological Protection, Recommendations of the
ICRP, Publication 2. Pergamon Press, London (1959),
Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs and
the Secretary of State for Scotland, The Control of Radioactive Wastes, Cmnd,
884. HMSO, London (1959).
4. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Radioactive Materials
in Food and Agriculture, FAO Atomic Energy Series No. 2. FAO, Rome (1960).
United Nations, Report of the Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic
Radiation, General Assembly, Official Records: Seventeenth Session, Supplement
No. 16 (A/5216). United Nations. New York (1962).
6. Russet, R. S. Ann. Rev. Plant Physiol. 14, 271-94 (1963).
5.
ADDENDUM
Since
this paper was
prepared
ICRP
have
issued
Publication
6 (1964). The
designation of different groups in the population has been revised and other
modifications have been introduced, but the general interpretations referred to in this
paper are not affected.