Radon in the News

[Andy Hull <hull@mail.sep.bnl.gov>]

"Radon More Dangerous in Air than in Water" is the headline of a report
today (9/16) in the New York Times. The sense of the report may be found in
the lead paragraph: Radon in drinking water  poses few human risks by
itself,but it increases people's overall risk form the toxic gas when in
escapes into the air and is inhaled, a National Research Council committee
said in a report released today( 9/15). Further on, the article reads: "the
new  study by the 12-member panel of experts generally agreed with the
agency's earlier risk projections,but there were some differences. The
committee estimated that radon consumed in water caused 20 stomach cancer
deaths a year, compared with an agency estimate of 100 deaths from stomach,
colon and liver cancer."  The following estimates are provided in a chart
entitled Lung and Stomach Cancer Fatalities in the United States in 1998
and indicating the NAS as its source:

Stomach-All Causes 13.000. 20-from drinking water containing radon.

Lung-All causes 160,000, from smoking and breathing radon in indoor air
700, from breathing radon outdoors 700, from breathing radon emitted from
water at home 160.

Andy Hull
EHSS-Bldg 51
BNL
Upton,NY 11973
Ph. 515-344-4210
Fax 516-344-3105
e-mail:  hull@mail.sep.bnl.gov
 

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