Acceptable radiation risks for members of the public

Abstract

Over the past year, considerable attention has been given to the contamination of milk following the accident at Chernobyl. This paper is focused on the question of whether the ingestion of radioactivity from milk will affect the health of our people. Regarding the introduction of a milk ban, the question is whether governmental agencies should require protective actions to reduce risks that are already considered acceptable. We cannot have the law label unacceptable the value of a concentration which the applicable science considers acceptable. To pursue the acceptable risk idea, radiation risk is taken out from its vacuum and set into a logical and demonstrable relationship with other risks. The duty owed by the health physicist is not zero dose but that which is "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" (ALARA), i.e., every single exposure needs to be examined to see if it could have been easily reduced. Our duty owed is to keep the dose under a numerical standard, wherein we can more easily make a decision as soon as the dose to the population is determined.