ABSTRACT
The Commission’s report of 1950 is the first of the modern International Radiological Protection Recommendations. The levels of permitted radiation are, of course, legally the responsibility of the governments of the countries concerned, but in practice they nearly all stem from an International Commission on Radiological Protection, which has an interesting origin. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (I.C.R.P.), still in association with the Congresses of Radiology, functions in close liaison with the United Nations and its group of committees and special agencies. ‘The permissible dose,’ says I.C.R.P., for an individual is that dose, accumulated over a long period of time or resulting from a single exposure, that in the light of present knowledge carries a negligible probability of severe somatic or genetic injuries. The possibility of individual monitoring for radiation exposure will rarely arise and those concerned may have different occupational hazards of their own.
