Statement by Mr. Abhishek Banerjee, Hon'ble Member of Parliament, at the Thematic Debate on Agenda Item 52 - Effects of Atomic Radiation at the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the UN General Assembly on October 23, 2015
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, I would like to extend congratulations on behalf of my delegation on your election as Chair of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee to the 70th Session of the General Assembly. I wish you all the best and assure you of my country's continued cooperation and support.
The 62nd Session of the Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation in Vienna (June 1-5, 2015) has seen the election of a new team of members to the Committee. While commending the work of the outgoing Chair and his team, we welcome the new Committee and express our readiness to work with them.
Mr. Chairman,
We appreciate the follow-up activities of the Committee on the new information that has emerged on assessment of the levels and effects of radiation exposure due to the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. It is heartening to note that more than half of the new publications have broadly endorsed the major assumptions made by the Committee in its 2013 report. We would urge the Secretariat to ensure the speedy dissemination of the Committee's review of new scientific literature and its commentary.
We welcome the Committee's discussion on the two draft scientific annexes, one on updating methodology were estimating human exposures to radioactive discharges into the environment and the other on the evaluation of radiation exposures from electricity generation. This would be very vital in the context of the focus of developing countries like India on diversifying their energy generation mix to combat global warming and placing nuclear energy as one of the priorities in this effort.
Mr. Chairman,
We appreciate the Committee and Secretariat's initiatives regarding the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on radiation exposures, in particular on medical and occupational exposures. We especially welcome the initiative of launch of an online platform for the collection of data. The Committee's discussion on the progress of evaluation of epidemiological studies of low dose rate exposures of the public to naturally occurring and artificial environmental sources of radiation is extremely useful. It is gratifying to learn that the scientific review on this aspect has considerably improved.
Mr. Chairman,
We also commend the Secretariat's outreach activities, particularly in Japan on disseminating the Committee's report on the effects of radiation exposure due to the Fukushima accident. These efforts and further plans are, we once again emphasize, very important in the context of the growth of the civil nuclear energy sector in many countries of the world.
We fully endorse the future programme of work of the Committee, which addresses concerns due to the growth of the civil nuclear energy sector as highlighted above. The project regarding evaluation risk of second cancers after radiotherapy is particularly welcome in view of the rapid growth of lifestyle diseases, particularly cancer in developing countries also.
Mr. Chairman,
During the 62nd Session of the Scientific Committee held in July 2015, India actively participated in technical discussions and participants from India articulated the Indian position on scientific issues involved in the subjects under consideration of the Committee.
Being a founder member of UNSCEAR (UN Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation), India is proud to be associated with its consultations and whole heartedly recommends adoption of the Resolution on 'Effects of Atomic Radiation'.
Thank You.