[ RadSafe ] Annual dose from Nature/Background/Man-made sources

[Peter Bossew]

On the very beneficial effects of indoor Rn:

Radon in homes and risk of lung cancer: collaborative analysis of 
individual data from 13 European case-control studies

S Darby, professor of medical statistics1, D Hill, statistician1, A 
Auvinen, professor of epidemiology2, J M Barros-Dios, professor of 
epidemiology3, H Baysson, statistician4, F Bochicchio, senior 
researcher5, H Deo, statistician6, R Falk, principal scientist7, F 
Forastiere, professor of epidemiology8, M Hakama, professor of 
epidemiology9, I Heid, statistician10, L Kreienbrock, professor of 
statistics11, M Kreuzer, epidemiologist12, F Lagarde, statistician13, I 
Mäkeläinen, health physicist14, C Muirhead, statistician15, W 
Oberaigner, epidemiologist16, G Pershagen, professor of environmental 
medicine13, A Ruano-Ravina, professor of epidemiology3, E Ruosteenoja, 
scientist14, A Schaffrath Rosario, statistician10, M Tirmarche, 
epidemiologist4, L Tomásek, statistician17, E Whitley, visiting lecturer 
in medical statistics18, H-E Wichmann, professor of epidemiology10, R 
Doll, emeritus professor of medicine1

1 Clinical Trials Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, 
Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, 2 School of Public Health, 
University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland, 3 Area of Preventive Medicine 
and Public Health, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 4 
Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, Direction de la 
Radioprotection de l'Homme, Service de Radiobiologie et d'Epidémiologie, 
Fontenay-aux-Roses Cedex, France, 5 Unit of Radioactivity and its Health 
Effects, Department of Technology and Health, Italian National Institute 
of Health, Rome, Italy, 6 Department of Applied Statistics, University 
of Reading, Reading RG6 2AL, 7 Swedish Radiation Protection Authority, 
SE-171 16, Stockholm, Sweden, 8 Department of Epidemiology, Rome E 
Health Authority, Rome, Italy, 9 Finnish Cancer Registry, Helsinki, 
Finland, 10 Institute of Epidemiology, GSF Research Centre for 
Environment and Health, Neuherberg, Germany, 11 Institute of Biometry, 
Epidemiology and Information Processing, University of Veterinary 
Medicine, Hannover, Germany, 12 Department of Radiation Protection and 
Health, Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Neuherberg, Germany, 13 
Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, S-171 77, 
Stockholm, Sweden, 14 STUK-Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, 
Helsinki, Finland, 15 National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, 
Didcot OX11 0RQ, 16 Tumorregister Tirol, Innsbruck, Austria, 17 
Epidemiology Unit, National Radiation Protection Institute, Prague, 
Czech Republic, 18 Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, 
Bristol BS8 2PR

Objective To determine the risk of lung cancer associated with exposure 
at home to the radioactive disintegration products of naturally 
occurring radon gas

Main outcome measures Relative risks of lung cancer and radon gas 
concentrations in homes inhabited during the previous 5-34 years 
measured in becquerels (radon disintegrations per second) per cubic 
metre (Bq/m3) of household air.

Results The mean measured radon concentration in homes of people in the 
control group was 97 Bq/m3, with 11% measuring > 200 and 4% measuring > 
400 Bq/m3. For cases of lung cancer the mean concentration was 104 
Bq/m3. The risk of lung cancer increased by 8.4% (95% confidence 
interval 3.0% to 15.8%) per 100 Bq/m3 increase in measured radon (P = 
0.0007). This corresponds to an increase of 16% (5% to 31%) per 100 
Bq/m3 increase in usual radon---that is, after correction for the 
dilution caused by random uncertainties in measuring radon 
concentrations. The dose-response relation seemed to be linear with no 
threshold and remained significant (P = 0.04) in analyses limited to 
individuals from homes with measured radon < 200 Bq/m3. The 
proportionate excess risk did not differ significantly with study, age, 
sex, or smoking. In the absence of other causes of death, the absolute 
risks of lung cancer by age 75 years at usual radon concentrations of 0, 
100, and 400 Bq/m3 would be about 0.4%, 0.5%, and 0.7%, respectively, 
for lifelong non-smokers, and about 25 times greater (10%, 12%, and 16%) 
for cigarette smokers.

Conclusions Collectively, though not separately, these studies show 
appreciable hazards from residential radon, particularly for smokers and 
recent ex-smokers, and indicate that it is responsible for about 2% of 
all deaths from cancer in Europe.


BMJ  2005;330:223 (29 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.38308.477650.63
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7485/223 


> ....has incontrovertibly been shown....
indeed.

pb.


>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Rainer.Facius at dlr.de>
> To: <Peter.Vernig at va.gov>; <idias at interchange.ubc.ca>; 
> <jdaitken at sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com>; <Mike.Brennan at DOH.WA.GOV>; 
> <radsafe at radlab.nl>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 1:22 AM
> Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ] Annual dose from Nature/Background/Man-made 
> sources
>
>
> "... a few of us, unfortunately have a very high [radon] exposure if 
> we live in a problem house ..."
>
> Peter:
>
> Why do you call the 'few of us' unfortunate if indeed the fact of 
> being exposed to higher levels of domestic radon has incontrovertibly 
> been shown to be associated with significantly reduced lung cancer 
> mortality - in line with most other studies, which have investigated 
> the association of low dose and dose rate exposure to ionizing 
> radiation with lung cancer? Proposed explanations of the radon 
> findings by means of confounders abound but I have seen none published 
> which was amenable to a quantitative analysis and which could be 
> upheld in the light of a subsequent quantitative re-analysis by 
> Bernard Cohen.
>
> Regards, Rainer

-----------------------------------------------------
Peter Bossew 

European Commission (EC) 
Joint Research Centre (JRC) 
Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) 

TP 441, Via Fermi 1 
21020 Ispra (VA) 
ITALY 
  
Tel. +39 0332 78 9109 
Fax. +39 0332 78 5466 
Email: peter.bossew at jrc.it 

WWW: http://rem.jrc.cec.eu.int 
  
"The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission."