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In 1990, the Board of the NRPB recommended a UK action level of 200
Bq m-3 for radon in homes. A lifetime exposure in dwellings at this level
would lead to a 50% increase in fatal lung cancer. It also recommended to
Government that action should be taken to discover and remedy homes above
the action level throughout the UK and that preventive measures should be
specified for homes in areas most affected by radon.
A recent investigation of indoor radon and lung cancer in southwest
England, corroborates the original estimate of risk, which was inferred
from data for miners. As for Government, the Department of the
Environment, Transport and the Regions, with the Scottish, Welsh, and
Northern Ireland Offices responded positively to the NRPB recommendations
by funding free measurements. Of the 100,000 or so homes in the UK that
are estimated to be above the action level, about 40,000 will have been
found by the end of 1998 and some 4000 homeowners persuaded to take
action. The building regulations have been adapted to ensure that new
homes in areas affected by radon have anti-radon designs.
There are undoubted benefits to public health from a successful radon
programme. Should all 100,000 homes above the action level be discovered
and remedied, around 8000 extra cases of lung cancer - above the 16,000
that would otherwise occur among the residents - would be avoided at no
great cost. There will also be appreciable benefits to health from the
preventive measures in new homes.
It is most desirable that a balanced programme of measurements and
remedies throughout the most affected areas of the country to reduce the
serious risk of excessive exposures in homes is maintained and the recent
public health consultative documents from the Health Departments envisage
that radon remediation work should be undertaken as a joint Goverment,
local authority and individual contract.
Radon remedies
In 1990, the Board of the NRPB recommended a UK action level of 200
Bq m-3 for radon in homes. A lifetime exposure in dwellings at this level
would lead to a 50% increase in fatal lung cancer. It also recommended to
Government that action should be taken to discover and remedy homes above
the action level throughout the UK and that preventive measures should be
specified for homes in areas most affected by radon.
A recent investigation of indoor radon and lung cancer in southwest
England, corroborates the original estimate of risk, which was inferred
from data for miners. As for Government, the Department of the
Environment, Transport and the Regions, with the Scottish, Welsh, and
Northern Ireland Offices responded positively to the NRPB recommendations
by funding free measurements. Of the 100,000 or so homes in the UK that
are estimated to be above the action level, about 40,000 will have been
found by the end of 1998 and some 4000 homeowners persuaded to take
action. The building regulations have been adapted to ensure that new
homes in areas affected by radon have anti-radon designs.
There are undoubted benefits to public health from a successful radon
programme. Should all 100,000 homes above the action level be discovered
and remedied, around 8000 extra cases of lung cancer - above the 16,000
that would otherwise occur among the residents - would be avoided at no
great cost. There will also be appreciable benefits to health from the
preventive measures in new homes.
It is most desirable that a balanced programme of measurements and
remedies throughout the most affected areas of the country to reduce the
serious risk of excessive exposures in homes is maintained and the recent
public health consultative documents from the Health Departments envisage
that radon remediation work should be undertaken as a joint Goverment,
local authority and individual contract.
Competing interests: No competing interests