The Effect of Low and Very Low Doses of Ionizing Radiation on Human Health Proceedings of the First International Symposium Held at the University of Versailles, Saint Quentin En Yvelines, France on 17th and 18th June 1999 - International Congress Series

The growing knowledge about the mechanisms of carcinogenesis and the critical analysis of the assumption on which the no-threshold linear relation is based have advanced, but dose-effect relations must be found which optimize the overall epidemiological and experimental data. It is abundantly clear that the standards that will be enforced upon the entry into the force of the International directive no longer enjoy the scientific justifications which made them credible, and that concepts like collective dose and the ALARA (As Low As reasonably Achievable) principle are obsolete. Yet this merely raises, with even greater sharpness, the key question: what can replace them? In this respect, research on the influence of variations in natural irradiation on cancer frequently represent a vital source of information. Radiological protection has entered what some call a turbulence zone, others a renewal. The dogmas on which it lived for more than two decades have been questioned, giving the medical and scientific community a dual responsibility.