European Committee on Radiation Risk
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The Council of Europe directive was a wide-ranging ruling regarding the use and transport of natural and artificial radioactive materials within the European Union, but the inaugural ECRR meeting concentrated on the proposal of Article 4.1.c: "...radioactive substances in the production and manufacture of consumer goods...".
The EU legislators had found it convenient to incorporate the findings of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) model for assessing radiation risk from internal emitters, but the ECRR challenged this and suggested that the model underestimates the risks by at least a factor of 10 "while..studies relating to certain types of exposure..suggest that the error is even greater". The ECRR have proposed a method of re-weighting the risk factors to take into account the biophysical properties of the particular isotopes involved.
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Responses
Chernobyl 20 Years On is cited in a letter by Professor Rudi H. Nussbaum from Portland State University published in Environmental Health Perspectives which challenges the accepted view of the long-term health consequences from the incident.
Shortly after the 2003 Recommendations was published the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency issued a response, in which they describe the ECRR as "...a self-styled organisation with no formal links to official bodies" and criticize its findings as "arbitrary and [without] a sound scientific basis. Furthermore, there are many misrepresentations of [the] ICRP".
Membership
Alice Stewart was the first Chair of the ECRR. The Chair of the Scientific Committee is Professor Inge Schmitz-Feuerhake. Christopher Busby is Scientific Secretary.