Associate Societies News

The Health Physics Society (HPS) convened a panel of leading scientific experts on radiation safety at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on 1 March 2012 for the benefit of invited media personnel.

As the world remembers the one-year anniversary of the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan and set off a tragic chain of events that included the nuclear reactor incident in Fukushima, the panel of leading scientific and medical experts reported on the risks and effects of radiation on the Japanese and other populations. A first-hand account of the impacts on the Fukushima population was provided by two members of the distinguished panel. The discussions included the health effects of radiation immediately following the event to present day and an analysis of future risks for the population.

The panel consisted of John Boice, ScD; Robert Emery, DrPH, CHP, CIH; Robert Peter Gale, MD, PhD, DS. (Hon); Kathryn Higley, PhD, CHP; and Richard Vetter, PhD, CHP. It was moderated by Howard Dickson, CHP, CSP, and CIH.

Members of the Washington panel agreed that while they considered the physical health risks from the exposure too small to measure, the accident would still have an impact. Psychological trauma from the evacuation and months away from home could end up being the biggest health risk from the accident.

Dr. Gale said he believed the exaggerated environmental and health risk claims from alarmists could backfire by making it harder for people in Fukushima Prefecture to resume their normal lives and businesses. "Already we see a stigmatization of people from that area or products from that area," he said. "It's very hard for them to survive. It's quite unfortunate."

While the quake and tsunami killed an estimated 20,000 people, radiation has not killed anyone so far, and members of the Health Physics Society, drawn from academia, medicine, and the nuclear industry, suggested that the doses were too small to have much effect.

"There's no opportunity for conducting epidemiological studies that have any chance of success,'' said Dr. Boice. "The doses are just too low. If you were to do a proposal, it would not pass a scientific review.''

Members of the press asked several questions of the panel during the press conference and visited individually with panel members after the event.

A video of all the proceedings will be available in a few days. Watch for it being posted on the HPS website (hps.org).

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) is pleased to announce that Dr. John D. Boice, Jr. has been nominated to serve as the Council’s fifth President. Dr. Boice’s nomination will be considered by the full Council prior to the Forty-Eighth Annual Meeting, March 13, 2012. Dr. Boice will follow the distinguished careers of Presidents Thomas T. Tenforde, 2002 to 2012; Charles B. Meinhold, 1991 to 2002; Warren K. Sinclair, 1977 to 1991; and the founding President Lauriston S. Taylor, 1929 to 1977. Dr. Boice is currently Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University, Assistant Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and since 2005 a Board Member of the Veterans’ Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction. Until his NCRP nomination, Dr. Boice was Scientific Director of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, Maryland since 1996. During his 27 years of service in the US Public Health Service, John Boice developed and became the first chief of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch of the National Cancer Institute.

He received a BS in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Texas at El Paso, an MS in Nuclear Engineering and Science from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an SM in Medical Physics from Harvard University. He earned a ScD in Epidemiology from Harvard University in 1977. Dr. Boice is a member of American Association for Cancer Research, American College of Epidemiology, American Epidemiological Society, American Public Health Association, Health Physics Society, Radiation Research Society, and the Society for Epidemiologic Research.

John Boice was first elected to NCRP in 1979. He served on NCRP’s Board of Directors from 1990 to 1994, chaired and vice chaired the 1996 and 2006 Annual Meeting Program Committees, respectively. Dr. Boice also served as a member of the 1988, 1991, and 2003 Annual Meeting Program Committees. In addition, he was Vice Chair of Scientific Committee 1-17 that produced Report No. 170, Second Primary Cancers and Cardiovascular Disease After Radiation Therapy, and has been a member or consultant of seven other scientific committees. NCRP honored Dr. Boice in 2009 as the Thirty-Third Lauriston S. Taylor Lecturer.

Dr. Boice is an international authority on radiation effects and currently serves on the Main Commission of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, the US delegation to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and the Congressionally-mandated Veterans’ Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of the National Cancer Institute as Associate Editor, the Journal of Radiological Protection as International Advisor, and Radiation Research as Senior Editor.

Among many honors and awards, Dr. Boice received the Harvard School of Public Health Alumni Award of Merit in 2008, the Health Physics Society Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in 2007, the University of Texas at El Paso Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1999, and the Failla Memorial Lecture from the Greater New York Chapter of the Health Physics Society and the Radiological Medical Physics Society in 2007. He also received the E.O. Lawrence Award from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Gorgas Medal from the American Military Surgeons of the United States, and was the Health Physics Society R.S. Landauer Memorial Lecturer. Dr. Boice has authored or co-authored more than 440 publications.

Information:  NCRP, DA Schauer, Executive Director, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 400, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3095, USA.  Fax. (301) 907-8768.  Tel. (301) 657-2652.   Email. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  http://NCRPonline.org. .

Dr William G. Cross, world-acclaimed scientist, passed away on April 10, 2011 after a brief but valiant battle against old age. He was born in Detroit MI, but grew up in Toronto and studied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Toronto. From 1943 to 1945 he served as a radar officer in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve. It was at the University of Toronto, where he met Eleanor Tilley, whom he married during a 48-hour leave in 1945. After the war, he studied at Harvard, receiving his PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1949. He and Eleanor moved to the new town of Deep River (Ontario) in 1950.

Dr Cross worked in the Health Physics Branch at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories until 1991. After official retirement, he continued working as an Emeritus Scientist at CRNL. His scientific work focused on beta and neutron dosimetry, where he contributed with hundreds of publications in international scientific journals.

He was a member of numerous societies, including the Health Physics Society, American Physics Society, and the Nuclear Track Society, the last of which he was a founding member. He chaired different scientific committees, panels, and working groups from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU), such as the IAEA international nuclear data committee, two IAEA panels on criticality dosimetry, the ICRU working group on the accuracy of conversion factors, and the ICRU report (56) Committee. Many colleagues from throughout the world, who had the opportunity to meet him, became his life-long friends.

Dr Cross was an extremely disciplined and well educated person in life as well as in science. He possessed a scientist’s insatiable curiosity about almost everything.  He was also an outstanding teacher.

Dr Cross loved music. He was an accomplished pianist, and played an important role in purchasing and maintaining Deep River’s Steinway concert grand piano. This superb instrument has entertained generations of concertgoers, and impressed many visiting pianists. Later in life, he took great pleasure in listening to his grandchildren playing the piano.

After a minor heart attack, Bill took up running at age 59, and became a familiar sight on the roads of Deep River until well into his eighties.

Predeceased by his beloved wife of 53 years, Eleanor, he is survived by 5 sons, John (Ava), Gordon, Peter (Marlene), Robert and David (Michal). He is grandfather to Miriam, David, Alexandra, Eric, Elizabeth, and Jennifer.

He will be remembered for his enthusiasm, kindness, self-effacing humor, and stoic courage. He was a gentleman in every sense. He will be missed enormously by all the members of his large family and by all his friends from throughout the world. The world has just lost a great scientist.

In lieu of flowers, donations have been proposed for the Deep River and District Community Foundation, P.O.B. 310, Deep River, K0J 1P0, in memory of William Cross, to support the preservation of Deep River’s concert piano.

David Bartlett
Richard Griffith
Harry Ing
Luigi Tommasino

Contact
Richard J. Burk, Jr. Executive Secretary Health Physics Society
Telephone: 703-790-1745
Fax: 703-790-2672
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.hps.org

The Health Physics Society endorses the Guiding Principles for Radiation Protection Professionals on Stakeholder Engagement developed by the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA). The document (IRPA 08/08) that describes these principles in detail may be downloaded from the IRPA Web site at http://www.irpa.net/.

The guiding principles are:
1.    Identify opportunities for engagement and ensure the level of engagement is proportional to the nature of the radiation protection issues and their context.
2.    Initiate the process as early as possible, and develop a sustainable implementation plan.
3.    Enable an open, inclusive, and transparent stakeholder engagement process.
4.    Seek out and involve relevant stakeholders and experts.
5.    Ensure that the roles and responsibilities of all participants, and the rules for cooperation, are clearly defined.
6.    Collectively develop objectives for the stakeholder engagement process, based on a shared understanding of issues and boundaries.
7.    Develop a culture that values a shared language and understanding and favors collective learning.
8.    Respect and value the expression of different perspectives.
9.    Ensure a regular feedback mechanism is in place to inform and improve current and future stakeholder engagement processes.
10.    Apply the IRPA Code of Ethics in their actions within these processes to the best of their knowledge. (Note: the Code of Ethics for members of the Health Physics Society is essentially identical to the IRPA Code.)

Although stakeholder engagement processes are more common in the United States than they may be elsewhere, and in fact are required by law in many circumstances, the Health Physics Society believes that adoption and implementation of the principles above will improve the process and lead to more effective public discussion and resolution of issues regarding the uses of ionizing radiation and radioactive materials.