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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the minority report of two members of the Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters; and if she will make a statement. [196497] Mr. Morley: I am aware of a report published by two members of the Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters (CERRIE), although a copy has not been provided to the Department. I understand that those two members attended all of the meetings of CERRIE; that their views, which they have subsequently published separately, were discussed extensively during those meetings; and that the CERRIE report addresses the points that they have raised. CERRIE was set up jointly by Defra and the Department of Health under the auspices of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE), which is the Government's independent expert advisory committee in this area. CERRIE published its report on 20 October, and on the same day COMARE published its own report endorsing CERRIE's conclusions. We are currently considering with the Department of Health, COMARE, the National Radiological Protection Board and the Environment Agency how CERRIE's conclusions should be accounted for in future decisions on radiological protection.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c1032W;426 c1036W; 196497

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Health hazards Radiation Radiation exposure Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk