Re: Radon Field Day

[hflong@postoffice.pacbell.net]

Good News!

The Field (Iowa) and Wang (China) studies do suggest more frequent lung cancer at

highest radon exposure than at lesser exposure, but that may be because there is

LESS lung cancer at moderate exposure (37 Bq/cubic meter, 1 pCi/L up to 4x that)

than with less exposure, according to the Cohen USA study!



All three studies have confounders which the authors struggled to remove, but are

likely not to be improved upon until we have placebo controlled radon exposure.

Any volunteers?



Howard Long



"Richard F. Orthen" wrote:



> Another from IEM's news desk:

>

> May 17, 2002 - Ascribe News (05/16/02) - University of Iowa Study Finds

> Health Risk From Residential Radon Exposure Higher Than Previously

> Estimated - The health risk posed by residential radon exposure may have

> been substantially underestimated in previous studies, according to

> investigators in the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Long-term

> exposure to radon gas in the home is associated with increased lung cancer

> risk and presents a significant environmental health hazard. "Our findings

> indicate that the exposure assessment models used in many previous studies

> may have underestimated the risk posed by residential radon exposure by 50

> percent or more," said lead author R. William Field, Ph.D., a research

> scientist with the UI Department of Epidemiology. The results of the study

> appear in the May 2002 issue of the Journal of Exposure Analysis and

> Environmental Epidemiology. The UI researchers examined several exposure

> assessment methods used by previous residential radon studies performed in

> North America, Europe and China. They compared these models to a more

> comprehensive exposure method that linked a person's movement to various

> radon measurements within a home. All of the models were assessed using the

> same study population. The exposure methods used by previous studies all

> produced lower risk estimates than the comprehensive method. The highest

> degree of error was noted for methods that based risk solely on basement

> radon measurements. "While radon concentrations tend to be highest in

> basements, people typically spend limited time there," Field said. "A more

> accurate assessment of risk can be formulated by linking multiple radon

> measurements taken within a home to where and how much time an occupant

> spends in the home."

>

> Rick Orthen

>

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