Radon in the human environment: Assessing the picture

by Jasimuddin U. Ahmed U, Fntil the late 1970s, radon and its daughter products were regarded as radiation health hazards only encountered in the mining and milling of uranium. This notion has dramatically changed as a result of widespread indoor measurements of radon in many parts of the world. Increased radon concentrations in dwellings, for example, have been noted in countries in the temperate regions, where stringent energy conservation measures caused people to tightly seal doors and windows, particularly during the cold months. Radon problems also have been increasingly recognized in many non-uranium underground mines or in underground workplaces where ventilation is insufficient. Attention to the problem of radon exposure and the associated health risks has thus been growing around the world. According to the assessments made by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), radon in the natural environment constitutes about 53% of the human exposure to natural radiation. In underground mining, mainly uranium mining, incidence of excess lung cancer has been observed in the United States (Colorado) the Czech Republic, and Canada (Ontario). This also has been the case among underground fluorspar miners and in iron ore miners in Sweden. Today, the scientific community agrees on the link between the incidence of excess lung cancer among underground miners and exposure to radon and its daughters. Current knowledge of potential health effects from radon exposure in dwellings, on the other hand, is rather limited. The relationship between the incidence of excess lung cancer among underground miners and exposure to radon cannot be sensibly used to understand potential health