REFERENCE GIRL : We need a new definition for better protection
Gender + Radiation Impact Project & Beyond Nuclear, ANNOUNCE: Development of Reference Girl
Gender and Radiation Impact Project and Beyond Nuclear are embarking upon a public process to draft the definition for a new reference individual: Reference Girl. Much like the definition of Reference Man, it will include physical, behavioral, cultural and environmental parameters. Reference Man embodies the racism, sexism, classism and ageist, of a patriarchal and colonial power structure that has been inflicting intergenerational impact on those most impacted and least able to protect themselves.
It is time for radiation to be centered on those most impacted, and it is time for knowledge leaders at GRIP to join with Environmental Justice and Healing leaders to involve impacted frontline communities as partners in creating a new regulatory model.
To arrive at the Reference Girl proposal the organizations are undertaking a planning phase to hold consultations with interested parties, impacted communities, and experts in a variety of disciplines. This phase will build relationships and find partners to embark on a more extensive implementation phase that will include finding an evidence base from land-based, traditional Indigenous communities with engagement with the habits of girls to become the basis for a universal Reference Girl.
For more details about what a Reference Individual is, and why we need a new one, a Q and A is available.
Reference Man
By Dave Lochbaum
The Standard Man in the context of exposure to ionizing radiation was conceived in September 1949 by twenty-three doctors and scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada during the Tripartite Conference in Chalk River, Canada. Their Standard Man weighed 70 kilograms (154 pounds). The Standard Man’s skeleton weighed 7 kilograms (15.4 pounds), his blood weighed 5 kilograms (11 pounds), his lungs weighed 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds), his brain weighed 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), his liver weighed 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds), his heart weighed 0.3 kilograms (0.66 pounds) and so on. The Standard Man’s body consisted of fifteen elements with oxygen (68%), carbon (18%) and hydrogen (10%) comprising the top three. Standard Man worked 50 weeks a year, consumed 2.5 liters (0.66 gallons) of water daily and breathed 20 cubic meters (706 cubic feet) of air daily. (READ OR DOWNLOAD FULL DOCUMENT…)
Reference Girl: Necessary, but not the endpoint for radiation protection
by Cindy Folkers
Current radiation exposure standards are based on an outdated model known as Reference Man: “… a nuclear industry worker 20-30 years of age, [who] weighs 70 kg (154 pounds), is 170 cm (67 inches) tall…is a Caucasian and is a Western European or North American in habitat and custom.” But with current global exposures to ionizing radiation increasing, Reference Man no longer represents the most protective model, leaving out women, children and pregnancy, which are less resistant to radiation exposure.
We need a new model: Reference Girl. Today is her day. As a health protection model, she will afford more protection to our entire population fairly easily under the current regulatory regime. However, she cannot represent the totality of the exposure damage to our entire lifecycle. For that, we would need a Reference Fetus, a more complicated standard. Nonetheless, Reference Girl is needed and can be deployed in the rapid fashion our health requires. …READ MORE / DOWNLOAD
Stay Tuned! We will be updating this page regularly!