The Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety-30 years of international coordination of radiation protection and safety matters.

The Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety (IACRS) was constituted in 1990, as a forum for collaboration and coordination between international bodies with regards to radiation safety. It consists today of representatives of eight intergovernmental member organizations (the European Commision, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Labour Office, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/ Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA), Pan American Health Organization, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation and the World Health Organization) and five observer non-governmental organizations (International Commission on Radiological Protection, International Commission on Radiation Units & Measurements, International Electrotechnical Commission, International Radiation Protection Association and International Organization for Standardization). The IACRS provides a platform for interaction between these relevant international bodies to contribute to a common understanding of the scientific basis and legal framework for the application of the system of radiation protection, towards global harmonisation of radiation safety standards. The IACRS played a key role in the development of the International Basic Safety Standards (BSS) in 1996 and in its revision in 2014. Further, an IACRS specific Task Group-chaired by the IAEA-fosters the implementation of the BSS in a consistent and coherent manner in all Member States of the United Nations. The IACRS operates via a standing secretariat jointly provided by the IAEA and OECD/NEA and is chaired by one of its member organizations on a rotating basis for periods of about 18 months. This approach has proved to be effective and was the foundation for ensuring continuity of the work of the committee and at the same time allowing a rotating leadership for all member organizations. Currently, the IACRS is chaired by the WHO. The International Radiation Safety Framework under which the IACRS works is structured around four main areas: (a) science; (b) principles; (c) standards; and (d) practice. This paper presents briefly the mandates, roles and functions of the various international bodies that are relevant to the four above mentioned areas of work, discusses how these bodies coordinate their actions and complement each other to enhance radiation protection and safety worldwide and describes their contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper also provides an overview of the main accomplishments of the IACRS since its inception 30 years ago, and an outlook on key challenges for its future activities.

Phytosanitary Irradiation.

Phytosanitary treatments disinfest traded commodities of potential quarantine pests. Phytosanitary irradiation (PI) treatments use ionizing radiation to accomplish this, and, since their international commercial debut in 2004, the use of this technology has increased by ~10% annually. Generic PI treatments (one dose is used for a group of pests and/or commodities, although not all have been tested for efficacy) are used in virtually all commercial PI treatments, and new generic PI doses are proposed, such as 300 Gy, for all insects except pupae and adult Lepidoptera (moths). Fresh fruits and vegetables tolerate PI better than any other broadly used treatment. Advances that would help facilitate the use of PI include streamlining the approval process, making the technology more accessible to potential users, lowering doses and broadening their coverage, and solving potential issues related to factors that might affect efficacy.

The case for a generic phytosanitary irradiation dose of 400 Gy for Lepidoptera that infest shipped commodities as pupae.

The pros and cons of a generic phytosanitary irradiation dose against all Lepidoptera pupae on all commodities are discussed. The measure of efficacy is to prevent the F1 generation from hatching (F1 egg hatch) when late pupae are irradiated. More data exist for this measure than for others studied, and it is also commercially tenable (i.e., prevention of adult emergence would require a high dose not tolerated by fresh commodities). The dose required to prevent F1 egg hatch provides a liberal margin of security for various reasons. A point at issue is that correctly irradiated adults could be capable of flight and thus be found in survey traps in importing countries resulting in costly and unnecessary regulatory action. However, this possibility would be rare and should not be a barrier to the adoption of this generic treatment. The literature was thoroughly examined and only studies that could reasonably satisfy criteria of acceptable irradiation and evaluation methodology, proper age of pupae, and adequate presentation of raw data were accepted. Based on studies with 34 species in nine families, we suggest an efficacious dose of 400 Gy. However, large-scale confirmatory testing (> or = 30,000 individuals) has only been reported for one species. A dose as low as 350 Gy might suffice if results of more large-scale studies were available or the measure of efficacy were extended beyond prevention of F1 egg hatch, but data to defend measures of efficacy beyond F1 egg hatch are scarce and more would need to be generated.