Recent analyses now permit direct estimation of the risks of lung cancer from radon decay products in US homes. Analysis of data from indoor monitoring in single-family homes yields a tentative frequency distribution of annual-average /sup 222/Rn concentrations averaging 55 Bq m/sup -3/ and having 2% of homes exceeding 300 Bq m/sup -3/. Application of the results of occupational epidemiological studies, either directly or using recent advances in lung dosimetry, to indoor exposures suggests that the average indoor concentration entails a lifetime risk of lung cancer of 0.3% or about 10% of the total risk of lung cancer. The risk …
continued below
Serving as both a federal and a state depository library, the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department maintains millions of items in a variety of formats. The department is a member of the FDLP Content Partnerships Program and an Affiliated Archive of the National Archives.
Descriptive information to help identify this article.
Follow the links below to find similar items on the Digital Library.
Description
Recent analyses now permit direct estimation of the risks of lung cancer from radon decay products in US homes. Analysis of data from indoor monitoring in single-family homes yields a tentative frequency distribution of annual-average /sup 222/Rn concentrations averaging 55 Bq m/sup -3/ and having 2% of homes exceeding 300 Bq m/sup -3/. Application of the results of occupational epidemiological studies, either directly or using recent advances in lung dosimetry, to indoor exposures suggests that the average indoor concentration entails a lifetime risk of lung cancer of 0.3% or about 10% of the total risk of lung cancer. The risk to individuals occupying the homes with 300 Bq m/sup -3/ or more for their lifetimes is estimated to exceed 2%, with risks from the homes with thousands of Bq m/sup -3/ correspondingly higher, even exceeding the total risk of premature death due to cigarette smoking. The potential for such average and high-level risks in ordinary homes forces development of a new perspective on environmental exposures.
This article is part of the following collection of related materials.
Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports
Reports, articles and other documents harvested from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is the Department of Energy (DOE) office that collects, preserves, and disseminates DOE-sponsored research and development (R&D) results that are the outcomes of R&D projects or other funded activities at DOE labs and facilities nationwide and grantees at universities and other institutions.
