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ix, [1], 8, [2] pages. Footnotes. Formulae. Definitions. The International Commission on Radiological Units and Measures (ICRU) has had as its principal objective the development of internationally acceptable recommendations regarding: (1) Quantities and units of radiation and radioactivity, (2) Procedures suitable for the measurement and application of these quantities in clinical radiology and radiobiology, (3) Physical data needed in the application of these procedures, the use of which tends to assure uniformity in reporting. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is an independent, international, non-governmental organization, with the mission to provide recommendations and guidance on radiation protection. It was founded in 1928 by at the second International Congress of Radiology in Stockholm, Sweden and was then called the International X-ray and Radium Protection Committee (IXRPC). In 1950 it was restructured to take account of new uses of radiation outside the medical area, and given its present name. The ICRP is a sister organization to the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU). In general terms ICRU defines the units, and ICRP recommends, develops and maintains the International System of Radiological Protection which uses these units. A year after Roentgen's discovery of X-rays, the American engineer Wolfram Fuchs (1896) gave what is probably the first protection advice, but many early users of X-rays were initially unaware of the hazards and protection was rudimentary or non-existent. The dangers of radioactivity and radiation were not immediately recognized. The discovery of x-rays in 1895 led to widespread experimentation by scientists, physicians, and inventors. Many people began recounting stories of burns, hair loss and worse in technical journals as early as 1896. In February of that year, Professor Daniel and Dr. Dudley of Vanderbilt University performed an experiment involving x-raying Dudley's head that resulted in his hair loss. A report by Dr. H.D. Hawks, a graduate of Columbia College, of his suffering severe hand and chest burns in an x-ray demonstration, was the first of many other reports in Electrical Review. Many experimenters including Elihu Thomson at Thomas Edison's lab, William J. Morton, and Nikola Tesla also reported burns. Elihu Thomson deliberately exposed a finger to an x-ray tube over a period of time and suffered pain, swelling, and blistering. Other effects, including ultraviolet rays and ozone were sometimes blamed for the damage. Many physicians claimed that there were no effects from x-ray exposure at all. As early as 1902 William Herbert Rollins wrote almost despairingly that his warnings about the dangers involved in careless use of x-rays was not being heeded, either by industry or by his colleagues. By this time Rollins had proved that x-rays could kill experimental animals, could cause a pregnant guinea pig to abort, and that they could kill a fetus. He also stressed that "animals vary in susceptibility to the external action of X-light" and warned that these differences be considered when patients were treated by means of x-rays. It was not until 1925 that the establishment of international radiation protection standards was discussed at the first International Congress of Radiology (ICR). The second ICR was held in Stockholm in 1928 and ICRU proposed the adoption of the roentgen unit; and the â International X-ray and Radium Protection Committee' (IXRPC) was formed. Rolf Sievert was named Chairman, but a driving force was George Kaye of the British National Physical Laboratory. The committee met for just a day at each of the ICR meetings in Paris in 1931, Zurich in 1934, and Chicago in 1937. At the 1934 meeting in Zurich, the Commission was faced with undue membership interference. The hosts insisted on having four Swiss participants (out of a total of 11 members), and the German authorities replaced the Jewish German me.
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