Since the establishment of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation by the General Assembly in its resolution 913 (X) of 3 December 1955, the mandate of the Committee has been to undertake broad assessments of the sources of ionizing radiation and its effects on human health and the environment.1 In pursuit of its mandate, the Committee thoroughly reviews and evaluates global and regional exposures to radiation, and also evaluates evidence of radiation-induced health effects in exposed groups, including survivors of the atomic bombings in Japan and people exposed after the reactor accident at Chernobyl.
The Committee also reviews advances in the understanding of the biological mechanisms by which radiation-induced effects on human health or on non-human biota can occur. Those assessments provide the scientific foundation used, inter alia, by the relevant agencies of the United Nations system in formulating international standards for the protection of the general public and workers against ionizing radiation;2 those standards, in turn, are linked to important legal and regulatory instruments.
Exposure to ionizing radiation arises from sources such as natural background radiation, including from radon; medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures; nuclear weapons testing; electricity generation, including by means of nuclear power; events such as the nuclear power plant accidents at Chernobyl in 1986 and following the great east-Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 2011; and occupations that increase exposure to artificial or natural sources of radiation. Report released: May, 2012.
Original working URL: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/67/46
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