RE: Radon Threat May Be Overstated - U.S. Scientists

[Glen.Vickers@ucm.com]

Think about where the initial data and assumptions came from...  It should
be expected that the risk estimate would need revision as better data and
assumptions are used.  I would think this whole process would be iterative
over time and asymptotically approach the truth.

Sincerely,
Glen Vickers
glen.vickers@ucm.com

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Sandy Perle [SMTP:sandyfl@earthlink.net]
	Sent:	Wednesday, January 13, 1999 2:56 PM
	To:	Multiple recipients of list
	Subject:	Radon Threat May Be Overstated - U.S. Scientists

	Latest amongst many recent articles published:

	Wednesday January 13 2:18 PM ET 

	LONDON (Reuters) - The risks of dying from lung cancer caused 
	by naturally occurring radon gas in the home may be much less 
	than previously suspected, American scientists reported 
	Wednesday.  

	Researchers have been warning for the past 20 years of the 
	dangers from alpha radiation given off by radon -- a gas that 
	bubbles into homes from uranium bearing rocks underground.  

	The U.S. National Academy of Sciences puts the radon death toll 
	in the United States at 18,000 a year -- making it second only to 
	smoking as a cause of lung cancer.  

	The estimate are calculated largely by extrapolating from deaths 
	among uranium workers who have a huge exposure to radon.

	But David Brenner and colleagues at the Center for Radiation 
	Research in Columbia University in New York, believe that most 
	domestic exposure to radon involves a single alpha particle per cell

	over a year, whereas the miners were frequently exposed to several 
	particles per cell over a short period.  

	Reporting in New Scientist journal, Brenner argued that 
	extrapolating risk from high to low exposure is wrong and that fears

	that thousands of people are dying from radon gas may be 
	groundless.  

	Brenner exposed 250,000 mouse cells to a single alpha particle 
	and found that only one in every 10,000 developed a cancerous 
	mutation. He said this was almost indistinguishable from the 
	mutation rate with no exposure at all.  

	He then repeated the experiment using a random distribution of 
	particles. In this case, the cells averaged three mutations per 
	10,000 cells. Brenner concluded that most of the damage must 
	have been done to cells exposed to more than one particle.  

	His results appear to support some recent studies that have failed 
	to find a significant link between domestic exposure to radon  
	and lung cancer. 

	Sandy Perle
	E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
	Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

	"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
	the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
	              - G. K. Chesterton -
	
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