( ( . DRAFT WSchroebel:ls 6/20/73 THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION (ICRP) The ICRP originated in the Second International Congress of Radiology in 1928. It has been looked to as the appropriate body to give general guidance on widespread use of radiation sources caused by rapid developments in the field of nuclear energy. ICRP recommendations deal with the basic principles of radiation protection. To the various national protection councils is left the responsibility for introducing the detailed technical regulations, recommendations, or codes of practice best suited to their countries. Recommendations are intended to guide the experts responsible for radiation protection practice. ICRP states that the objectives of radiation protection are to prevent acute radiation effects and to limit the risks of late effects to an acceptable level. It holds thatis unknown whether a threshold exists, and it is assumed that even the smallest doses involve a ‘proportionately small risk. No practical alternative was found to assuming a linear relationship between dose and effect. This implies that there is no wholly "safe" dose of radiation. Exposure from natural background radiation carries a probability so. otis Hy Tht ee of causing some somatic or hereditary injury. However, the Commission Be believes that the risk resulting from exposures received from natural background should not affect the justification of an additional risk from man-made exposures. Accordingly, any dose limitations recommended by the Commission refer only to exposure resulting from technical Ht?