[ RadSafe ] Mr. Connell states basis for radon risk reduction "havebeen rejected by legitimate scientists for decades"

[Steven Dapra]

May 5

         True enough.  No one has made that claim.  Is it possible to prove 
that 250 pCi/L in a home *can* cause cancer?  Or that it will?  And for 
what period of time must one be exposed to Rn at this level?  Etc., etc.  I 
am not suggesting that anyone is making the claim that exposure in a home, 
at this level, can cause cancer.  I am merely asking an academic question, 
to wit, can it be proven.

Steven Dapra


At 03:29 PM 5/5/09 -0400, you wrote:
>Brennan, Mike (DOH) wrote:
>>
>>While it is not a study, here is an article about a situation I was 
>>slightly involved in: 
>>http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/mar/08/a-silent-danger/. The woman 
>>in the article is a never-smoker, living in and from non-smoking 
>>households, and working in a smoke free workplace.  She was diagnosed 
>>with lung cancer.  When her home was tested for radon the levels on the 
>>main floor, including in her bedroom, were around 250 pCi/l.  I am not a 
>>radi-phobe, but that's a lot of radon.  I acknowledge that we do not know 
>>for certain what induced her cancer, but I know what I consider to be the 
>>most likely suspect.


>  No one has claimed that 250 pCi/L in a home cannot cause cancer
>
>--
>Bernard L. Cohen
>Physics Dept., University of Pittsburgh
>Pittsburgh, PA 15260
>Tel: (412)624-9245  Fax: (412)624-9163
>e-mail: blc at pitt.edu  web site: http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc