How did radon become a national indoor air issue?
The EPA, the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, the American Lung Association, the National Safety Council, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have all concluded that radon is a known cancer-causing agent in humans. The National Academy of Sciences’ Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation VI report (1998) concluded that radon causes between 15,000 and 22,000 lung cancer deaths each year in this country. A more recent risk assessment from the EPA states radon causes 21,000 premature cancer deaths each year in the U.S. (2003). The Surgeon General of the U.S. warned in a 2005 press release that radon is the 2nd leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. – second only to smoking. For non-smokers in this country, radon is the number one cause of lung cancer.
