CABINET PAPER—PRIVILEGED
Property of the White House—For Authorized Persons Only
(5)
There can be no single permissible or acceptable level of
exposure without regard to the reason for permitting the
exposure.
It should be general practice to reduce exposure
to radiation, and positive effort should be. carried out to
fulfill the sense of these recommendations.
It is basic
that exposure to radiation should result from a real
determination of its necessity.
(6)
There can be different Radiation Protection Guides with
different numerical values, depending upon the circumstances.
The Guides herein recommended are appropriate for normal
peacetime operations.
(7)
These Guides are not intended to apply to radiation exposure
resulting from natural background or the purposeful expdaure
of patients by practitioners of the healing arts.
(8)
It is recognized that our present scientific knowledge dogs not
p
provide a firm foundation within a factor of two or three ffor
selection of any particular numerical value in preference to
another value.
It should be recognized that the Radiatiox
Protection Guides recommended in this paper are well
below
the level where biological damage has been observed in humans.
It is recommended that:
— ———
4,
Current protection guides used by the agencies be continued pn an
interim basis for organ doses to the population,
Recommendations are not made concerning the Radiation Prétection
Guides for individual organ doses to the population, other than the gpnads.
Unfortunately, the complexities of establishing puides applicable to
radiation exposure of all body organs preclude the Council from making
recommendations concerning them at this time.
However, current
protection guides used by the agencies appear appropriate on an intRrim
basis.
CABINET PAPER
For Consideration