Re: Background radiation and cancer

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

On Thu, 26 Feb 1998, Paul Lavely wrote:

> We have been involved in public meetings regarding radiation and cancer.
> One group has stated that up to 15 percent of ALL human cancers are from
> "background radiation" (their definition excludes ALL man-made sources -
> including medical). Does anyone know the source for a quote such as this?

	That is surely much too high. An average American's cancer risk
from natural radiation (according to linear-no threshold theory) is:
  400 E-6 /rem x 0.3 rem/y x 70 y = 0.008
His total cancer risk is about 0.20, so natural radiation 4% of this. 


Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu