Science commentary: Radon blues

摘要

The publication of a new collaborative study of the effect of domestic radon on the risk of lung cancer is a reminder that this is a hazard to be taken seriously. Of course, health campaigners will rightly respond that radon gas, the cause of just under a tenth of deaths from lung cancer, is hardly in the same league as tobacco. That said, as a carcinogen worth tackling it does have one great "virtue." Unlike the perilous ingredients in materi- als that we choose to smoke, the threat posed by radon can be greatly reduced or even eliminated without a painful reliance on willpower or on the exercise of self denial. Unfortunately, the extent to which even the relatively pain-free remedies for dealing with it are actually applied is less then impressive.