UNSCEAR: present and future activities

United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) was established in 1955. The Committee reviews the exposure of the world population to all sources of radiation under normal circumstances as well as after accidents, and is also the prime international scientific body reviewing and assessing the health risks of exposure to ionizing radiation. Its estimates have been and are still being used by major international bodies including the ICRP, IAEA, and WHO. UNSCEAR's publications form the scientific basis on which international and national agencies develop appropriate radiation protection standards for workers, patients and the general public. UNSCEAR reports yearly to the General Assembly and submits regularly comprehensive reports with detailed scientific annexes on the sources and biological effects of ionizing radiation. In 1995, UNSCEAR began a new program of review of the sources, exposure and biological effects of ionizing radiation. A comprehensive report with scientific annexes will be published in the year 2000. The report will include exposures from natural and man-made radiation sources, occupational and medical radiation exposures, and dose assessment methodologies. The biological effects will cover epidemiological evaluation of radiation-induced cancer, DNA repair and mutagenesis, hereditary effects, combined effects of radiation and other agents, as well as models, mechanisms and uncertainties of biological effects at low radiation doses. An assessment of exposures and effects of the Chernobyl accidents is also made. A brief overview is presented here of the range of subjects considered by the Committee. (author)