PUT NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY AT THE SERVICE OF PEACE

VATICAN CITY, SEP 20, 2002 (VIS) - Msgr. Leo Boccardi, permanent observer of the Holy See to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria, spoke on September 17 at the 46th session of the General Conference of the International Agency of Atomic Energy (IAEA) which concludes today.

Msgr. Boccardi affirmed that "it is very important to replace old technical equipments with modern ones that provide a higher level of safety, but it seems even more vital for a nuclear safety culture to increase the awareness of potential dangers which go with nuclear technologies. At the same time we have to follow attentively the situation in this regard in all Member States in order to prevent or eliminate, if there are some cases of it, double standards of protection and quality assurance for industrialized countries on the one hand, and developing ones on the other hand."

"The radiological protection of patients and caregivers has been for my Delegation a question of great importance. We are not getting tired in repeating that it the human person who is at the center of all scientific research and development. But this fundamental principle does not exclude the problem of environment protection and the question of the impact of nuclear technologies, notably ionizing radiation, on it."

The permanent observer to the IAEA indicated that "the assistance granted in the fields of medicine, particularly for cancer treatment, diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine, helps numerous people in those regions where the modern forms of diagnosis and medical treatment are on a large scale not yet available and where especially the rural population has scarcely any access to it."

At the end of the speech, Msgr. Boccardi expressed his desire that the IAEA put nuclear technology "at the service of sustainable development, peace and well-being of the entire human family."

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