UN confirms link between natural radiation and lung cancer

Jul 21, 2009, 12:23 GMT

Vienna - Radiation from natural radon gas concentrated in homes raises the risk for lung cancer, a UN scientific committee has established in a report presented Tuesday in Vienna.

The gas is normally present in the air, but can become trapped in buildings especially in the Northern hemisphere, where windows are often kept closed.

'Radon is a typical health risk no one wants to accept or take note of,' said Wolfgang Weiss, Vice Chairman of the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).

The small but detectable risk was especially relevant for smokers who are already at a higher risk, Weiss told journalists.

Based on the report, the World Health Organizations and other organizations were in the process of revising their recommendations on maximum radiation doses.

Vienna-based UNSCEAR has collected data from more than 20 studies in Europe, North America and China that looked at several 10,000 lung cancer patients.

Health and radiation protection authorities in the United States and Germany have said radon is the second leading cause for lung cancer, besides smoking.

The gas is formed in the decay process of uranium, which is widely present in the soil. In some regions, including Ohio in the United States and Bohemia in the Czech Republic, radon levels are higher owing to the local geology.

The gas can enter buildings by seeping in through the basement.

Possible protection measures include sealing off basements with plastic foil.

'The first focus should be on areas with very high levels, where you can clearly see an effect,' Weiss said, but such measures should over time be extended to the general public.

The UN report was already prepared in 2006, but made available only now due to financial problems.