Risks in pregnancy (was pregnancy waivers)

[stabin@esper.com (Mike Stabin)]

John White writes:

>At The University of Texas at Austin, we have a form for each female
>to sign.  This signing is done to acknowledge a Consultation, which is
>presented by me, the RSO, and attended and witnessed by a female worker in
>my office.  At the Consultation, we present the basic information regarding
>pregnancy and radiation, we describe the risks and responsibilities, and give
>a copy of a paper describing pregnancy risks in general.  <snip>

There might be some interesting elaboration here - what sources do people
use to "describe the risks" of low doses in pregnancy?  Is the recent NCRP
Commentary the latest authoritative source?  Does anyone subscribe to and
discuss with subjects the possibility that the most recent analyses of the
H&N data "may not be inconsistent with a threshold for effects at around 0.4
Gy"? (this is probably not an exact quote)  

I might take this opportunity to mention that a working group is currently
forming to devise an HP Standard on fetal dose calculations (internal
emitters and possibly external as well).  I just spoke with Pete Roberson
this week, and we had a fairly small response to a request for CVs of folks
who might be willing to participate.  If this is an area of interest and
expertise for you, and you might like to work on developing a standard,
please contact Pete (I don't have his info handy - it's in the Membership book).

Mike Stabin
Radiation Internal Dose
  Information Center
Oak Ridge, TN
423-576-3449  ph
423-576-8673  fax
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