[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: alpha particles and lung cancer
Dear Prof Cohen, Radsafers,
I think I dare say you have many more admirers than detractors (more
vociferous) of your seminal work on indoor radon at relatively low
concentrations up to 240 Bq/m^3 (granted, on average). Individually, this
would be an 'acceptable' level in most countries. National individual
'limits' vary typically between 200 and 400 Bq/m^3 for domestic buildings,
above which some form of remediation is 'recommended'. As you might know,
some of the criticism levelled against your approach is based on the fact
that a few isolated high maximum radon concentrations would not necessarily
reflect in the county average (Implication: high outliers could conceivably
be responsible for the lung cancer deaths) . This as an aside, to explain
(in part) why I see the study of high concentrations as relevant.
My expectation is that a proper assessment in e.g. Saxony, Germany, could
be a valuable complement towards understanding the effects of high domestic
radon concentrations, especially since long-term measurements have been
done, and in certain towns about 20% of the houses were reported in excess
of 15000 Bq/m^3. An advantage is that in Germany a register of residence
is kept. Most of these houses have probably been occupied for many
decades, mostly by the same families (low migration). Health records
should also be relatively complete, so that individual health histories can
be correlated with actual living conditions (pre-remediation). On the face
of it, this represents an outstanding opportunity to answer some burning
questions about radon, carcenogenicity, hormesis, and more.
Chris Hofmeyr
chofmeyr@nnr.co.za
Your message:
Bernard L Cohen
<blc+@pitt.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list
Sent by: <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
radsafe@romulus.eh cc: (bcc: Christoph Hofmeyr/CNS1)
s.uiuc.edu Subject: Re: alpha particles and lung cancer
2001/02/21 18:44
Please respond to
radsafe
On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Christoph Hofmeyr wrote:
>
> In a posting of 9 Feb I queried about studies of inhabitants of high
radon
> dwellings in e.g. Saxony (significant numbers >15000 Bq/m^3), as
> residential and other records are usually very complete in Germany. I
felt
> that a proper survey under such conditions should be a good measure of
the
> danger of domestic radon (in reality the progeny); it could be a seminal
> study. To be honest, I am baffled that such a study has not had a high
> profile, considering worldwide radon 'remediation' efforts.
--How about my study of U.S. counties, published originally in
Health Physics 68:157-174; 1995, with many follow-up papers?
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html