ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
A major study has failed to connect indoor radon exposure with lung cancer, raising new uncertainty about public health warnings that the colorless, odorless gas is responsible for as much as 10 percent of America's lung cancer.
Americans have spent about $400 million testing for radon and renovating homes with high levels. But experts said Tuesday that several studies now suggest the minimum residential level of the gas that poses a significant cancer risk is not known.
The new study, conducted in Finland, analyzed residential exposure to radon for 1,055 lung cancer patients and compared that with the radon exposure of 1,544 people without lung cancer. Researchers at the Finnish Center for Radiation and Nuclear Safety concluded that ``radon exposure does not appear to be an important cause of lung cancer.''
John Boice Jr., a former National Cancer Institute chief of radiation epidemiology, praised the study and said, ``It raises concerns about the validity of risk for the low doses experienced in the home.''
But he also said, ``There is no question that radon causes lung cancer. The uncertainty is what is the level of risk from low dose exposures.''
A report on the study is to be published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
- Associated Press
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