By Brian Carnell

Thursday, June 20, 2002

A British study of almost 6,000 children found that home radon levels had no effect on cancer incidence.

The study took 2,226 children with cancer and 3,773 healthy children and measured radon and gamma ray levels in bedrooms and living rooms. Researchers then compared both overall cancer incidence based on radon levels not only for cancer, but also for six specific types of cancer.

In all cases researchers found that homes with high levels of radon gas and gamma rays were no more likely to have children with cancer than were homes with low levels of radon gas and gamma rays.

British research Richard Doll told the BBC,

The study is the first in the UK to measure domestic levels of radiation and relate them to children's cancer risk, and it's pleasing to be able to ease those fears.

. . .

Although some areas have higher levels of radon or gamma radiation than others, the differences don't seem to be big enough to produce a detectable effect.

That suggests that background radiation is not playing as large a role as some people have feared.

Radon hysteria in the United States seems to have largely passed, and so far studies like this have shown that the furor over radon was simple hysteria.

Source:

Radon cancer fears dismissed. The BBC, June 7, 2002.

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