Re: radon and smoking

[BERNARD L COHEN <blc+@PITT.EDU>]

On Wed, 13 Feb 2002 RuthWeiner@AOL.COM wrote:



> > In your email below, you did not mean to imply that the radon GAS

> > concentrations increased did you?  I would expect the aerosols and airborne

> > radon progeny to increase, but not the radon gas concentrations.

> >

> >

>

> I do not understand this question.   Radon is chemically inert.  If damage to

> the lung alveoli is from the radon alpha, what difference does it make if it

> is carried into the lung as a gas on loosely bound to a particle.  Is the

> difference in the residence time in the lung?  Is the difference that radon

> progeny would be more likely to stay in the lung if the radon is on a

> particle?



	--The thing being left out of your consideration is the unattached

fraction. Unattached radon progeny have a much better chance of stickung

in the bronchial region, and this fraction is greatly reduced by cigarette

smoke.



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