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

Wed Aug 1 12:32:28 CDT 2007

Peter and other radsafers

Krewski's analysis of 7 North American case-control studies is in agreement 
with Darby's one for Europe. It is D. Krewski, J. H. Lubin, J Zeilinski, M. 
Alavano, V. S. Catalan, R. W. Field, J. B. Klotz, E. G. Letourneau, C. F. 
Lynch, J. I. Lyon, D. P. Sandler, J. B. Schoenberg, D. J. Steck, J. A. 
Stolwijk, C. Weinberg and H. B. Wilcox. Residential Radon and Risk of Lung 
Cancer, Epidemiology, Vol. 16, pp 137-145, 2005.

John
***************
John R Johnson, PhD
CEO, IDIAS, Inc.
Vancouver, B. C.
Canada
(604) 222-9840
idias at interchange.ubc.ca

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Bossew" <peter.bossew at jrc.it>
To: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Cc: <Rainer.Facius at dlr.de>
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Annual dose from Nature/Background/Man-made sources

> 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."
>
>
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