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Re: Regarding statement on AARST and Mr. Hendrick
1/13/03 5:41:33 AM, Gary Hodgden <aair@aair.com> wrote:
>What I first read in Mr. Farber's communication is a clearly off-base
>statement questioning the integrity of Mr. Hendrick and AARST.
>....... Furthermore, the radon
>levels in some homes might even alarm you regarding person-rems per year.
>..............>Mr. Hendrick's message is a heartfelt concern. I hope you will
work to conclusively verify or disprove his concerns.
=============
Dear Mr. Hodgden:
My initial post to radsafe about the recent statement by the AARST expressed
concern about its absolute statement that radon was killing a certain number of
people each year due to lung cancer, and never acknowledging the number might be
less. I note in looking at the website for your radon remediation commpany [see:
http://www.aair.com/radonnoframe/health.html]
that you have a table I believe is taken from EPA publications that shows the
risk of lung cancer death if a person lives in a home with various levels of
airborne radon and is either a smoker or a non-smoker. Your Non-Smoker table
indicates that for each 1,000 people so exposed to 4 pCi/L of radon in air:
about 2 people COULD get lung cancer
Equivalent risk: The risk of drowning.
I've put your table's "could" in capital letters above to emphasize the word
My clearly stated concern with the AARST statement is the difference between the
wording "COULD" get lung cancer vs. "WOULD" get lung cancer.
As noted in the statement by the AARST's Mr. Hendrick:
"In those same twelve years, Hendrick points out, over a quarter of a
million people will die from radon induced lung cancer."
See:
http://www.ewire-news.com/wires/EC502F37-B461-4373-AFE9C7EE31E4D26A.htm
I still consider the language in the above AARST statement to be unnecessarily
inflammatory. While I agree that radon exposure in a great many homes does result
in non-trivial radiation exposure to the lung that based on current information
COULD cause some theoretical excess lung cancers, this information should be
presented in a balanced non-inflammatory manner so the homeowner can make an
informed decision as to remediation.
Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
email: farbersa@optonline.net
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