Word: radon
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...sampling at the Tower, an expert biostatician has calculated that the relative risk associated with working in the Tower for 20 years is equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes in an entire lifetime (lung cancer only), riding a motorcycle for 11 miles, spending time indoors over five months (radon exposure), or going on a two-week vacation in the Rocky Mountains (ultraviolet radiation...
There was a similar pattern of uncertainty in judgments about Alar, radon and even some forms of PCBs and asbestos. Citing government studies, environmentalists sounded the alarm about toxicity and cancer. The public fretted. Officials issued warnings and regulations. But then skeptical scientists re-evaluated the threat and began to argue that the risks had been exaggerated. After this series of debates, people are wondering if they have been unduly frightened by overzealous, if well-meaning, regulators...
Fresh studies and new interpretations of old data suggested that some feared substances -- dioxin, radon and asbestos -- were less toxic or carcinogenic than previously thought. They aren't exactly part of a complete breakfast, but slight exposures aren't inevitably fatal either...
...growing number of scientists contend that radon's dangers are overstated. They point out that the EPA bases its warnings primarily on studies of lung-cancer rates among uranium miners. Such workers toil for years in subterranean pits where radon concentrations are thousands of times as high as levels in homes. In some studies, it was not clear how much of the cancer was caused by radon, how much by smoking cigarettes and how much by a combination of the two: researchers believe that radon poses a higher risk for smokers...
Before making major investments in radon abatement, homeowners should take these uncertainties into account. It cannot hurt to buy a radon-testing kit, which generally costs less than $25. If repeated tests indicate a high level, professional testing is needed. While there is no magic number, a radon level in the hundreds would probably be grounds for action. If sealing cracks does not solve the problem, radon can often be flushed out by installing special fans and ventilation ducts. Weighing the options, however, could be done more dispassionately if the EPA would tone down its frightening rhetoric...