The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is getting together this week to decide how to advise the president on radiation dosing. The institute's Subcommittee for Dose Reconstruction and Site Profile Reviews, Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, will meet this Thursday, Nov. 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in Erlanger, Ky. The meeting is open to the public, but there will be no public comment period.

The meeting's main purpose will be to provide advice to the HHS Secretary on the development of guidelines under Executive Order 13179 – Providing Compensation to America's Nuclear Weapons Workers. The subcommittee will discuss the scientific validity and quality of dose reconstruction efforts performed for this program. The meeting will also attempt to decide whether there is a class of employees at any Department of Energy facility who were exposed to radiation but for whom it is not feasible to estimate their radiation dose, and on whether there is reasonable likelihood that such radiation doses may have endangered the health of members of this class.

For more information on the executive order, visit http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/owcp/eeoicp/law/eo13179.htm

For more information on the meeting, including conference call access numbers, visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-19080.htm