The Problem The control of radiation by legislative means in the United States is a complicated problem, all the many facets of which cannot be shown in one short paper.2 However, to present a discussion of some of the history, the philosophy, the progress to date, and the proposals of the National Committee on Radiation Protection seems a very worth-while endeavor. Only in the last few years have any serious efforts toward legislative control of radiation been made. Up until then, all efforts had been directed toward educating the users of radiation and developing safe codes of practice for voluntary compliance (1). The first efforts in the field of radiation protection date back to about 1920, but it was not until the end of the decade then beginning that the first recognized codes of protection practice appeared. During the intervening years, most of the work was concerned with finding out what the problem was and how to cope with it. The first international steps were taken in 1928, at the Second International Congress of Radiology, at which time the International Commission on Radiological Protection was formed. In 1929, the National Committee on Radiation Protection was set up in this country with the primary purpose of unifying the various efforts then being sponsored by several different organizations. The committee has continued to function without interruption since its establishment. The first attempt to set up radiation protection codes for industrial fields was made by the American Standards Association in about 1943. This started as an emergency war measure, but actually the code was not finished until about 1946. It is now under complete revision. These dates serve to point out that, in spite of the beliefs of some individuals or groups, the problem of radiation protection is not something quite new nor has its need just become apparent. Most emphatically, (a) the problem is not new, (b) an immense amount of thought has been given to it over several decades, and (c) the problem today differs only in magnitude and not in kind. The situation is at present much more advantageous than it was at the time radiation was first recognized as something from which people had to be protected. In 1920 the problem itself was obscure, but such is no longer the case. Many details are still not clear, but the broad principles are now very well understood. The present challenge is to work these basic concepts into a structure that is both useful and usable. Today the growth in the use of radiation can be visualized and, with the existing knowledge, plans for the future can be made in a way that was certainly not possible twenty-five or thirty years ago. The potential impact of radiation is much greater now than ever before. It is of direct concern to labor and public-health authorities and to the public at large.