How long exposure to radon

January 13, U. Surgeon General, Richard H. Carmona, issues a Health Advisory warning Americans about the health risk from exposure to radon in indoor air. The Chief Physician urged Americans to test their homes to find out how much radon they might be breathing. In an effort to reduce the rate of lung cancer around the world, the World Health Organization WHO launched an international radon project to help countries increase awareness, collect data and encourage action to reduce radon-related risks.

The U. The following graphic compares EPA estimates of the annual radon-related lung cancer deaths to other selected cancers. View a larger version of this image. Skip to main content. However, residential radon epidemiological studies, with lower cumulative exposures, have not reported a decrease in risk with time since exposure. Therefore, in calculating risks from lifetime exposure, the risk models did not adjust specifically for exposure at earlier ages.

The report does include a small adjustment for exposure to infants. Since most of the studies of the risk from radon involved underground miners, nearly all of whom were adults exposed at high levels relative to residential exposures, it would have been difficult to identify a specific risk for exposure in childhood.

No such effect has been reported in the studies of lung cancer risk from residential radon exposure. The decay products of radon radon progeny that are deposited in the lung have relatively short half-lives ranging from less than a millisecond 0. However, the damage done to the cells persists and may result in an increased risk of lung cancer. As you noted, radon decays through a series of radioactive progeny to stable lead lead or Pb.

The number of atoms of Pb resulting from the radioactive decay of radon or radon progeny in the body is so small that no increase in lead concentration would be detectable. The bottom line is that cumulative radon exposure determines the potential risk of lung cancer.

It should be noted, however, that since radon risk is multiplicative with the risk from smoking, tobacco use is, by far, the primary factor in lung cancer risk from radon. Head over to an area that fits your interest and learn more about air quality and the products we offer. You might be aware of radon exposure if you work in the mining industry, live in an area with high concentrations of this gas or are about to sell your home and the government requires you to get a certified inspection.

You may also remember radon from a time you saw it all the way to the right of the periodic table, on the noble gases section. Or maybe the name has come up in conversations, as more research is done and the name of this gas is more present in the media. This short article discusses three things you need to know about radon exposure. Radon is a radioactive gas with no taste, smell or color.

This means the human senses alone cannot detect it. It was advertising as a helpful relief to arthritis, sinus, and asthma. Luckily this information was proven false and the government banned this kind of advertisement in You can see an example of a newspaper ad on the left. People understand working in enclosed areas where poisonous gases can gather is dangerous, but not all gases damage the lungs in the same way. Your nose helps you to understand your surroundings.

The harm in radon exposure, however, goes beyond air quality, what we can smell, and what our senses generally tell us about the safety of an environment.

You can see a cloud of smoke or haze from very far. You can also recognize the smell from quite a distance. In fact, people found out by chance that radon concentrates in homes and other enclosed areas.

This happened in when a nuclear plant worker in the U. Here you can see what happened:. Thanks to that incident and the further work of scientists we now know radon exposure is harmful.

Most people have heard about radon being a health hazard. But it can be difficult to fully understand the danger it poses. Radon is a radioactive gas given off by soil, rock, and water. It results from the breakdown of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in uranium buried deep underground. The link between radon and lung cancer has been firmly established over the past four decades from studies in people and in the lab. The elevated lung cancer risk was first noticed in uranium miners, who worked in confined spaces underground for long periods.

This led scientists to consider that radon exposure could be a wider problem. Dauer explains.