THE PROBLEM OF PERMISSIBLE DOSES OF IRRADIATION FOR BIOTA

The dose of acute irradiation or of chronic irradiation under which th e biota's functioning is not disturbed is suggested as a permissible d ose of irradiation for biota. On the basis of many separate experiment s and observations, doses of chronic irradiation of 1 - 3 Gy/year are supposed to be permissible for higher plants and animals. The irradiat ion tolerance of microorganisms is considerably higher. The permissibl e doses of irradiation for the biota and for human beings are compared . The accepted maximum tolerance dose of irradiation of 10(-3) Gy/year for humans is determined to be groundless. We propose substituting th e term ''maximum tolerance dose,'' which may cause psychological stres s, for the term ''permissible dose.''