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The general effects of radon to the human body are caused by its radioactivity and consequent risk of radiation-induced cancer. Lung cancer is the only observed consequence of high concentration radon exposures; both human and animal studies indicate that the lung and respiratory system are the primary targets of radon daughter-induced toxicity ...
Exceptionally, an agent (chemical mixture) may be placed in this category when evidence of carcinogenicity in humans is less than sufficient, but when there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals and strong evidence in exposed humans that the agent (mixture) acts through a relevant mechanism of carcinogenicity.
Radon is thus assumed to be the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, and accounts for 15,000 to 22,000 cancer deaths per year in the US alone. [9] [better source needed] However, the discussion about the opposite experimental results is still going on. [10] About 100,000 Bq/m 3 of radon was found in Stanley Watras's basement in 1984.
Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirable (from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) definition).
Underground miners have the greatest exposure; however even the lower levels of radon that seep into residential spaces can increase occupants' risk of lung cancer. Like asbestos, cigarette smoking and radon exposure increase risk synergistically. [72] Radon exposure is responsible for between 3% and 14% of lung cancer cases. [73]
Effective dose is a dose quantity in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) system of radiological protection. [1]It is the tissue-weighted sum of the equivalent doses in all specified tissues and organs of the human body and represents the stochastic health risk to the whole body, which is the probability of cancer induction and genetic effects, of low levels of ...
When doing so, they found a significant increase in lung cancer amongst smokers exposed to radon at doses as low as 100 to 199 Bq m −3 and warned that smoking greatly increases the risk posed by radon exposure i.e. reducing the prevalence of smoking would decrease deaths caused by radon.
Although one study found no significant evidence that short-term exposure to diesel exhaust results in adverse extrapulmonary effects, effects that are correlated with an increase in cardiovascular disease, [64] a 2011 study in The Lancet concluded that traffic exposure is the single most serious preventable trigger of heart attack in the ...