The Council of Europe directive was a wide-ranging ruling regarding the use and transport of natural and artificial radioactive materials within the European Union,[3] but the inaugural ECRR meeting concentrated on the proposal of Article 4.1.c: "...radioactive substances in the production and manufacture of consumer goods...".
[2] The EU legislators had found it convenient to incorporate the findings of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) model for assessing radiation risk from internal emitters,[3] but the ECRR challenged this and suggested that the model underestimates the risks[4] by at least a factor of 10 "while..studies relating to certain types of exposure..suggest that the error is even greater".
[5] The ECRR have proposed a method of re-weighting the risk factors to take into account the biophysical properties of the particular isotopes involved.
[6] Chernobyl 20 Years On is cited in a letter by Professor Rudi H. Nussbaum from Portland State University published in Environmental Health Perspectives which challenges the accepted view of the long-term health consequences from the incident.
[7] Shortly after the 2003 Recommendations was published the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency issued a response, in which they describe the ECRR as "...a self-styled organisation with no formal links to official bodies" and criticize its findings as "arbitrary and [without] a sound scientific basis.