Sir, - With reference to your report on Professor McAulay's paper on the exposure of air crew to cosmic radiation (Irish Times, August 16th), there are a number of points that need clarification. It is true to say that the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association (IFALPA) welcomes, in the absence of any existing European regulations, the introduction of EU limits for air crew exposure to cosmic radiation.
However, the point must be made that there is considerable disquiet among pilots at the decision "arbitrarily" to classify air crew as radiation workers, and therefore subject to higher levels of exposure than ordinary members of the public. The general principle applied in the nuclear industry of keeping radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable (the ALARA principle) seems to be being disregarded in respect of air crews.
To clarify a further point in the report, I stated that it was not clear what airlines will do to apply the new EU regulations, rather than suggesting that I doubted if the airlines would obey the directive, as your report implied.
Finally, what is absent from the report is the fact that the potential for exposure to cosmic radiation increases substantially depending on the latitude of the flight undertaken. In general, flights closer to either Pole, but certainly above 60 degrees north or south latitude, are liable to the higher significant levels of radiation. The majority of flights out of Ireland do not enter these areas. - Yours, etc.,
Deputy president, International Federation of Air Line Pilot's Associations. Dublin.