Radon in the news

[Jim Morrison]

New York Times op-ed piece

[Marc]

This is from an abstract of the study referenced by the article:

BACKGROUND:

Underground miners exposed to high levels of radon have an excess risk of lung cancer. Residential exposure to radon is at much lower levels, and the risk of lung cancer with residential exposure is less clear.

CONCLUSIONS:

These results provide direct evidence of an association between residential radon and lung cancer risk, a finding predicted using miner data and consistent with results from animal and in vitro studies.

Makes me wonder if the author's intent is bragging rights of being the one who ignited a round of radon-mania.

Marc

[kurt]

Further evidence of the countries hard right shift. Folks don't want the guv'mint telling them what to do.

[Tom Raymond]

Residential mitigation systems are a remodeler's dream project; one can test in and out out for pennies, the components are cheap and light, and they can be installed by a trained ape with basic tools. Profit, profit, profit, profit...

...but there is no demand. In 25 years of working on houses in the same communities I've encountered exactly 2 mittigation systems and both were turned off. If this were a problem that needed solving then someone would be making mulah solving it.

[kurt]

I have to wonder.

If this was really a health issue, one would think there would be a mountain of independent medical researchers indicating there's a hazard.

Since that's not happening, I have to wonder if it's EPA department heads flogging the issue to maintain annual budget allotments.

What's real, what's not?

[Tom Raymond]

The EPA is certainly more a part of the problem than the solution, it's their mandate.

[ejager]

No one worries about something that takes so long for the cumulative effect to seen, especially when neither cause nor effect can actually be seen.

This seems to hold true be it medical, environmental, political or whatever.

[hausdok]

My paternal grandfather was a coal miner. He smoked. He died of emphyzema when I was about four or five.

Miners die from a lot of different stuff.

I think that trying to make a direct connection between radon and lung cancer in folks who've never entered a mine in their lives and lung cancer and other lung diseases in folks who go down into that environment every day is a real stretch.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike