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Radon Effects to Human Health
Radon and its radioactive products can enter your body as you breathe them
in or swallow them. They remain in your lungs and undergo radioactive decay.
The radiation released during this process passes into lung tissue and is
the cause of lung damage. Some of the radon particles enters your
bloodstream, most (greater than 90%) of the radon goes to the lungs where
you breathe most of it out. This occurs very shortly after it is taken in.
Any remaining radon goes undergoes decay. There is very limited information
on whether radon gas can penetrate the skin, but some radon may be able to
pass through the skin when you bathe in water containing radon.
Exposure to radon and its radioactive products in air increases your chances
of getting lung cancer. When exposures are high, diseases of lung may occur
due to thickening of certain lung tissues. Although health effects may occur
within days or weeks after exposure to radon, it will be several years
(about 5 to 25) before cancerous effects become apparent.
Although radon is radioactive, it gives off little gamma radiation.
Therefore, harmful health effects from external exposure are not likely to
occur. External exposure occurs when the chemical does not contact directly
with the human body.
The harmful health effect of radon is directly proportional to the levels of
exposure to radon. The greater your exposure to radon is, the higher your
chance of developing lung cancer, especially if you smoke cigarettes. It is
not yet known if radon also contributes health effects other than to the
lung.
Although several of radon decaying products can be detected in human urine
and in lung and bone tissues, radon in human tissues is not detectable by
routine medical testing. Moreover, testing methods used to test urine, lung
and bone tissues for radon are not generally available to the public and are
of limited value since they cannot accurately measure the amount of radon
exposure nor they can predict whether you will further develop harmful
health effects or you will not.
EPA recommends that all homes should be monitored for the presence of radon.
Relative testing and measuring should be taken. If levels of radon are found
to be higher (refer to EPA for radon level ranges), home owner should
consider procedures to decrease indoor radon levels.
Radon and its decay products are radioactive and present evidence points as
cause of lung cancer and possibly leukemia (with a rapidly growing catalogue
of proof). Other forms of cancer are not yet known. There are two main ways
that radon can increase the risk of cancer:
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Once radon is inhaled into the lungs, the alpha
radiation it emits causes direct damage to the sensitive lining of the
bronchi, increasing the risk of radon-induced cancer.
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Along with the air your breathe are small dust and
water particles which stick to the inner lining of the lungs. As radon
inside your body decays, it deposits decay products into these particles,
and which then ends up directly next to the lung lining. These particles
will then damage the lung and will be pushed out in due course by the
small hairs lining the lungs. Polonium is a substance in the decay chain
of radon which is very strongly linked with lung cancers.
The increased risk of cancer depends largely on the amount of radon in the
building and the amount of time an individual spends there. Since most
people spend a great deal of their time at home, the dose received from
indoor home spaces is very important The effects of high exposure radon may
not be evident for years or even decades, but will somehow surprise you with
a serious health problems.
Human Health Effects from Breathing Radon
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Short-Term Exposure - less than or equal to 14 days of exposure
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Long-Term Exposure - occupational to 10 years of exposure. This exposure
causes severe lung damage.
Adapted from: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- 1992, A Citizen’s guide to Radon: The Guide to
Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Radon (2nd Edition)
- 1993, Home Buyer’s and Seller’s Guide to Radon
- 1992, Consumer’s Guide to Radon Reduction: How to
Reduce Radon Levels in Your Home
- 1992, National Residential Radon Survey: Summary
Report
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