Re: Radon/Smoking relationship questions

["Field, R. William" <bill-field@UIOWA.EDU>]

Ruth


I agree that you must be very careful about generalizations from various

parts of the U.S.  That is one reason a nationwide ecologic study

based on short term, non seasonably adjusted, mostly lower living area

radon gas measurements as a surrogate for radon progeny exposure concerns

me a bit.  Radon gas is radon gas everywhere in the United States,

but the effective dose from the progeny will vary by geography.


Regarding your other comments.  Smoke and dust will not cause radon

progeny to plate out faster, it will cause it to stay suspended

longer.


Bill



At 01:06 PM 02/15/2002 -0500, RuthWeiner@aol.com wrote:

> here
>
> is an additional thought:  I don't believe you can extend your
>
> conclusions about ventilation uniformly to all parts of the United
>
> States.  here are some examples of why: 
>
>
> 1.  In the Pacific Northwest there is relatively little home air
>
> conditioning (central or otherwise).  Moreover, many people use
>
> electric baseboard heat instead of a central furnace because (until the
>
> recent California energy debacle) electricity was reasonably inexpensive.
>
>
> 2.  In New Mexico (and some parts of Arizona) homes are cooled using
>
> evaporative cooling ("swamp coolers") rather than refrigerated
>
> air.  Evaporative cooling requires opening windows for ventilation.
>
>
> 3.  Many new houses don't have basements or crawl spaces, but are
>
> built on concrete slabs. 
>
> 4.  Out here is the Southwest, it is dry and dusty, and some of that
>
> dust comes in small particles.  It is also windy.  I imagine
>
> that dust blowing into a house would have much the same effect in plating
>
> out radon and radon daughters as smoke. 
>
> 5.  Wood smoke would also plate out radon, in homes that are heated
>
> with wood stoves. 
>
>
> Just some items for your consideration. 
>
>
> Ruth Weiner, Ph. D. 
>
> ruthweiner@aol.com 



************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/