Environmental Engineering Reference
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the fetus could be 25% of normal background radiation but only for relatively high concentrations
of radon in drinking water.
Lymphocytes in bronchial airways are collocated with basal cells—decay product targets for
radon-related lung cancer. There is a suggestion that irradiation of these lymphocytes may be
responsible for a fraction of childhood leukemia. Because radon is soluble in body luids, all organs
have a small concentration of the gas and its decay products. However, the dose to other organs is
very small compared with the dose to bronchial airways.
There is a clear dose response for lung cancer in underground miners exposed to high concentra-
tion of 222 Rn. A dose response and risk from residential radon exposure has been demonstrated in
pooled studies of the 23 case control epidemiological studies. The lung cancer risk estimated from
either residential or underground exposure is similar with ERR at about 0.01 WLM −1 for both smok-
ers and nonsmokers. The magnitude of lifetime risk thus depends on the baseline risk. Because the
lung cancer baseline is much higher for smokers, by about a factor of 10, smokers' lifetime risk is
consequently higher than nonsmokers'.
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