Radon: A World Wide Health Risk

Concern about high radon levels in homes was raised as far back as 1956 when Swedish houses were discovered with elevated levels of this naturally occurring radioactive gas. Debate has raged ever since as to the exact degree of risk to health radon poses when found in dwellings. That it is a risk however is confirmed by the World Health Organisations declaration in 1988 that radon is a human carcinogen.

International Efforts

The problem is considered so serious that radon risk management efforts, including radon risk potential maps and radon risk communication programmes, are now being undertaken on an international scale. Over 55 member states of the United Nations have requested technical assistance from the Atomic Energy Agency.

Lung Cancer

A 1993 Swedish study and a later 1998 UK study confirmed that radon in homes does pose a cancer risk, specifically lung cancer, since radon and its immediate decay products are in the air we breathe. Studies show that while smoking remains the Number 1 risk, the second single cause of lung cancer is radon and that radon and smoking work together to produce an increased risk over smoking alone.

Action Level

The UK Government’s recommended action level for domestic radon concentrations is 200 Bq/mł. (In the United States the action level is set at 148 Bq/m-ł.) If your radon levels are at or above 200 Bq/mł, you should have remedial work carried out to reduce your radon exposure. Work places with elevated radon levels may come under the requirements of the Ionising Regulations. In such cases monitoring and or controlling radon exposures is mandatory.

The type of mitigation work required will vary with your individual property and the radon concentrations within it. In some cases this may require treating the water supply to remove dissolved radon before use in a property or structure.

June 2000

A study of 1,027 woman from the US State of Iowa has concluded that long-term exposure to radon in the home is associated with lung cancer risk and presents a significant environmental health hazard, according to researchers at the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

The Iowa Radon Lung Cancer Study, funded

by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, included investigators from the University of Iowa, St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota and the University of Kansas. The are published in the June 1 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Centre for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination