Health Effects of Radon
What is the affect of Radon on our Health?
As early as the 1400s, lung disease was associated with the mining of metal ores in the Erz mountains of eastern Europe. A study conducted in the same area in the late 1800s reported that miners were developing lung cancer. In the 1950s and 1960s, through additional studies of miners, the inhalation of Radon was accepted as the cause of lung cancer in these and other groups of exposed miners.
Miner studies have been conducted in the United States, Canada, Australia, China and Europe on miners who work in metal, fluorspar, shale and uranium mines. In addition to consistently showing an increase in lung cancer risk with exposure to radon.
Beginning in the late 1960s, homes with elevated indoor radon concentrations were discovered in the United States. These elevated radon levels were due to the use of building materials contaminated with radioactivity, such as vanadium and uranium mill tailings, high uranium content concrete, or wallboard constructed with phosphor gypsum.
Radon is the number 1 environmental cause of death and the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US. and is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. For smokers Radon can dramatically increase the risk of developing this disease.
EPA’s Estimate of Risk of Radon for the Smoker & Non Smoker-
