Radon and Lung Cancer
Radon causes approximately 21000 deaths
Annually from kung cancer ,making
It the second most Important cause of lung
Cancer after smoking.
However the extent of public knowledge
About radon is unclear .
Majority of respondents in many studies
Did not know that radon causes lung cancer
.Conversely ,misinformation about radon
Is common:approximately 50% if respondents
In many studies reported the erroneous
Belief that radon causes headache ,This
Suggests that the public has confused the
Effects of radon with those of carbon monoxide.
In 1956 Textbook of mining De Re Metallica
(On Metals Matters)
Gregorius Angicola described a wasting
Disease of miners in Erzberg (Core mountains)
Of Germany that "eats away the lungs----
And plants consumption in body"
German scientists identified this miner's
Disease as lung cancer (Langard 2015)
Radium was discovered by Marie and
Pierre Curie in 1889 following year
German Physicist Ernst
Fredrick Doen demonstrated that radium
Emitted a radioactive gas "Radon emanation"
Later simply "Radon"
Epidemiologic studies of Radon and
lung cancer conducted among miners
In the 1950s confirmed Agricola's
Recognition of lung cancer as an occupational
Disease.
We now know that Radon is odorless invisible
Gas that results from natural decay of Uranium
And Thoron ,in soil and rock.
The gas enters homes through cracks
In the foundation .
Well---water can be source of residential
Radon . However most of the exposure
Of the general population to radon is via
Soil gases .
Radon measurement: Becquerels per
Cubic meter of air /m3 cubic meter
In 1984 the discovery of home in
Pennsylvania with Radon concentration
Of 96000BQ /m3
The lung risk equivalent of smoking 250
Packs of cigarettes per day.
Ref Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
Volume 192 Dec 2018 pages 26---31
Nancy Vogeltanz --Holm
Gray G.SchWartz