[ RadSafe ] Anyone have a comment ? about radon risk and 226 Ra in milk ??

[William Levy <Associated Radon Services>]

How about a CHP reply to the post


 I made the following post ia Inspection News "By the way we are finding some 226Ra in the recently tested drywall samples. Highest so far 0.332 pCi/g Is this enough for an indoor radon problem given the large areas of sheetrock ?? don't know yet

Bill

William Levy

Associated Radon Services

wlevy at radonserv.com
This thread is located at:
http://www.inspectionnews.net/home_inspection/environmental-pests-health-safety-home-inspection-commercial-inspection/13134-new-mould-sampling-myths-page-new-post.html

THIS IS THE REPLY BY:

Caoimhín P. Connell
Forensic Industrial Hygienist
Forensic Industrial Hygiene


William Levy says “By the way we are finding some 226Ra in the recently tested drywall samples. Highest so far 0.332 pCi/g Is this enough for an indoor radon problem given the large areas of sheetrock ?? don't know yet”

Yes, William, we do know – No William it is not a problem, and indeed, 0.3 pCi/g is an EXTREMELY small amount. And by the way, I got a kick out of the use of three significant digits in your post (0.332). If you were to look at the data, you would probably find a standard deviation of 20 or higher, therefore the first significant digit is not reliable much less the last two. In any event even if it were 500 pCi/g, it still wouldn’t be an issue (my goodness, a glass of milk runs at about 1,200 pCi/g!)

Considering for a moment that the average person reading this post has about 150 grams of potassium in their body right now. William, as you sit and read this, if you are a normal human, YOU are irradiating 4,400 Bq (120,000 pCi) of K40, (that equates to about 4,400 radioactive disintegrations per second) … so ask your colleagues to step away from you if you love them. 

Remember, not one study to date, NOT ONE, has demonstrated that radon as seen in homes has been able to demonstrate that it increases the risk of cancer one iota – and remember too, that the US EPA found that as radon concentrations in a home go up, the cancer risk goes DOWN.

Cheers!
Caoimhín P. Connell
Forensic Industrial Hygienist
Forensic Industrial Hygiene


 Anyone have a comment ??


Bill Levy
William Levy
ASSOCIATED RADON SERVICES
5136 SE Orange St.      Stuart, FL  34997
800-741-0629     772-219-4334     Fax  772-287-1341
www.radonserv.com           wlevy at radonserv.com