In order to manage the exposure of human beings to ionizing radiation, a device was needed that enabled exposures to be related to dose received, and hence for relating doses to effects. The result was an entity called Reference Man. It has therefore been argued that a similar approach could prove useful in attempting to manage radionu-clides in the environment by having a framework with which to relate exposures to dose, and doses to effects, for other types of living things, by way of a set of entities called reference animals and plants. This set would necessarily be limited in scope, because it is clearly not possible even to try to encompass the vast array of living things that might need to be considered in various forms of environmental management practices. Nevertheless, a relatively small set could still be useful in drawing out many of the basic questions, and to serve as a reference against which other forms of animals and plants could be compared. This paper outlines some of the issues involved and makes some suggestions as to how they might be addressed.
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