[ RadSafe ] Residential radon risk

[Bernard Cohen]

The observed fact (from my paper in Health Phys. 60:631-642;1991) is 
that houses of smokers have about 10% lower radon levels, on average, 
than houses of non-smokers. Everything else is speculation. I proposed 
that this observation might possibly be explained by houses of smokers 
having more window opening to get rid of the smoking residues.

John Jacobus wrote:

>It seemed obvious as my father who smoked was always
>"hacking."
>
>Maybe I missed the point, but why are smokers exposed
>to less radon?  What about non-smokers in the same
>house?
>
>--- Bernard Cohen <blc+ at pitt.edu> wrote:
>  
>
>>John Jacobus wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I was under the impression that the physiology of
>>>smoking resulted in a build up of muscus in the
>>>bronchi, etc. that "protected" the cells from the
>>>radon progeny emissions.  Does that sound
>>>      
>>>
>>reasonable?
>>    
>>
>>    ---This is irrelevant to the observed fact that
>>smokers are exposed 
>>to slightly less radon, on average, than
>>non-smokers. But to respond 
>>directly, smokers have far fewer cilia that normally
>>expel radon 
>>daughters from the bronchial region so one would
>>think they get much 
>>higher radiation exposure from a given radon
>>inhalation, but this was 
>>found not to be the case. This is explained by the
>>increased mucus flow 
>>in smokers largely makeing up for the missing cilia.
>>
>>. . .
>>    
>>
>
>+++++++++++++++++++
>"Embarrassed, obscure and feeble sentences are generally, if not always, the result of embarrassed, obscure and feeble thought."
>Hugh Blair, 1783
>
>-- John
>John Jacobus, MS
>Certified Health Physicist
>e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com
>
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