Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9401200048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Short
Radon is the major source of radiation exposure in most countries. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that radon causes 7,000 to 30,000 lung cancer deaths a year.
The Swedish study was based on a review of 1,360 men and women who were diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 1980s.
They were compared with 2,847 healthy people. The researchers measured radon levels in 8,992 houses that the study subjects had lived in since 1947.
Radon concentrations in homes is measured in picocuries per liter. The EPA recommends that action be taken to lower radon that exceeds 4 picocuries. About one in 15 U.S. houses have more than that amount.
The Swedish researchers found that when people were exposed to 3.8 to 10.8 picocuries, their lung cancer risk was 30 percent higher than that of people whose exposure averaged below 1.4 picocuries. It was 80 percent higher when radon levels averaged above 10.8 picocuries.
- Associated Press
by CNB