WHAT'S BETTER THAN SMOKING?

For contracting lung cancer, radon [AtE Nov 82]; in fact, in Sweden it is now twice as good.

In Sweden's long, cold winter, homes have always been well insulated and energy efficient, but now they have become so dedicated to energy conservation that the resulting radon concentration exposes Swedes to as much as 8 rems/year. (US safety standard: 5 rems/year as an occupational hazard, 0.5 rems= 500 mrems per year for the public.) The death rate from radon-induced lung cancers (1,200/year) has now reached double that from smoking (600/year). Some years ago, the British government estimated 1% of all lung cancers due to radon; in Sweden it appears to be approaching 40%.

The Swedish government has now set 0.5 air changes per hour as a minimum for ventilation (US: no standard, but 0.7 to 2 air changes/hr are usually considered safe) and is making funds available for people whose homes do not reach that value.

Although the Swedish figures are well above the US average, occasional measurements are as bad or worse. In Maine, Prof. C.T. Hess of the U. of Me. found radon concentrations in homes ranging from 0.1 to 150 pCi/l, the upper end violating (occupational!) safety standards in uranium mines. (Summary of his report: Bulletin of Am. Physical Soc., vol. 27, October 1982, p. 877.)