Re: Aside from the reward issue...

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>]

Jerry,

I am not sure what you meant by "What, if any, is the

association between radon levels and smoking

incidence?"  That is a very significant issue since

smoking is one of the leading causes of lung cancer.

Don't you agree?  



To me, the whole issue is what was the person's

exposure to radon and the risk of getting lung cancer.

 My understanding is that you cannot identify from Dr.

Cohen's data how much radon or background radiaton

exposure a person was exposed to. Also, you cannot

correlate smoking with the incidence of lung cancer.

Consequently, you have "dumped" all the smokers and

high radon exposed people people together and try to

guess who developed cancer for what source, smoking or

radon.



Maybe that is too simplistic, but that is my view of

the problem.  I suspect that radon at low

concentrations is a weak carcinogen in relation to

smoking, which is why it cannot be identified in Dr.

Cohen's study.



  

--- Jerry Cohen <jjcohen@prodigy.net> wrote:

> John,

>     There are also multiple causes for lung cancer

> (genetic predisposition,

> air pollution, etc.). Smoking may be the predominant

> cause, but many

> non-smokers  also get lung cancer.

>     The question at hand is - What, if any, is the

> association between

> radon levels and smoking incidence?  If, as I

> suspect, the answer is NONE,

> then  Puskin's assessment is meaningless!    Jerry

> . . .





=====

-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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