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LIVING IN AN area with a high level of radon exposure increases the risk of lung cancer diagnosis, according to new research.
The study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) finds this is the case even after accounting for other risk factors that could influence an individual’s likelihood of lung cancer diagnoses, such as smoking history, age and gender.
Exposure to radon gas is thought to be the second most important cause of lung cancer worldwide after smoking.
The research, commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency, links data from more than 5,000 people aged over 50 in Ireland from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing with data on radon exposure risk provided by EPA.
Radon can intrude into houses from underground or from certain building materials.
EPA has an online “risk map“, which splits Ireland into a grid and breaks down the areas most at risk of radon exposure by a colour code.
A high radon area is any area where it is predicted that 10% or more of homes will exceed the reference level of 200 becquerels per cubic metre. This is the point above which action should be taken to lessen the effects of radon exposure.
[image alt="Capture" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2018/02/capture-1113-296x265.jpg" width="296" height="265" credit-url="http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epa.ie%2Fradiation%2Fradonmap%2F" credit-source="EPA" caption="EPA's%20Radon%20Map" class="alignnone" /end]
The researchers found that lung cancer diagnosis is more prevalent in areas where 10 to 20% of houses are above the national reference point.
People in these areas are three times more likely to have a lung cancer diagnosis than people in areas were less than 1% of houses are above the reference point.
However, the study didn’t find an increased risk of lung cancer diagnosis in areas with the highest level of radon exposure.
Areas where the risk of radon is highest – where more than 20% of houses are above the national reference point – don’t have the highest odds of lung cancer, according to the researchers.
This does, however, suggest that households in these areas may have reduced their risk by protecting their homes.
“It is already known that 250 lung cancer deaths in Ireland every year can be attributed to radon exposure,” Anne Nolan of the ESRI said.
“This research emphasises that people should not be complacent about the risk of radon exposure. Measures should be taken to ensure that people in areas of high radon exposure are aware of the risk and know how to mitigate it.”
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He deserves a Nobel peace prize.
@brian boru: but in the land of make believe that will never happen….Trump on the other hand is a prime candidate….
@brian boru: and when he was leaking Clinton’s email Trump though he was his hero.
I shocked that the Trump regime would be after him after all the help he gave them.
Ecuador needs to get nukes now. Their embassy in London needs to be careful about any new hires, particularly in the kitchen. The Murderers are on their case
The worlds best investigative journalist, one of the dwindling few, and of course the tyrannical USA wants to kill him.
@methodical2020: indeed, I’m a regular Richie Allen listener too.
@james o reilly: they are going to plug the leak
@methodical2020: I like Ritchie and I enjoy his show, he interviews people mainstream media would not entertain and is not afraid to ask the right questions however is idolisation of David Icke annoys me, while I agree with what a lot of Icke has to say I feel Ritchie can be a bit of a lap dog.
did Trump really take a WikiLeak in a Russian hotel?
@alphanautica: i thought he took a data dump
@Zx5vZulB: Allegedly this is his fave tune – https://youtu.be/Hy8kmNEo1i8
Doesn’t he know that the US government released a leaker called Chelsea Manning and now he wants Assange arrested for the same thing, left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing if you ask me.
‘Merica
didn’t Assange promise to turn himself in if that happened?
@Dave O Keeffe: He promised to go and answer questions if they wanted. I wonder why they’ve not bothered after all this time?
@Linda: strange, they want to question him, he wants to be questioned, what’s the hold up? Oh yeah, he’s pretty much in prison already and at this point America isn’t directly responsible.
@Dave O Keeffe: Hmm no that doesn’t sound quite right. Probably more likely they know he’s done nothing wrong and they’ve nothing to charge him with. But they’re going to try really, really hard to find something!
@Dave O Keeffe:
Yes, but he didn’t believe it actually would happen…
He also said he had a huge amount of material compromising to Russia and said he was going to release it, but we’re still waiting for that too…
There’d be nothing to leak if they werent doing anything wrong
He’ll obviously be going after Hillary Clinton too?
Assange is a joke at this stage. Couldn’t care less about him.
The CIA calling Wikileaks a hostile intelligence agency is hilarious.
Trump probably more worries about what else he has on him / I’d imagine some hookers in a Russian hotel is way down the list
The hypocrisy of the US is astounding. Basically wants to turn every device in the world into a listening hub for their own benefit. Oh but if someone does it to them..
I think this is what you call a tidy up of loose ends.
Assange is a moron. He’s anti American & he has not leaked anything about Russia as there’s a serious threat to his life if he did. Playing a positive role with these leaks would be desirable but being anti American makes him just part of the consensus. Neither inspire any confidence in him.
@Mjhint: American running dog?
@Mjhint: So you didn’t read to the end of the article? The bit where Assange is reported to have professed overwhelming admiration for both America and the idea of America? And if you did, what – in your opinion – makes him a liar?
Go Trump! Choo-choo!
Very ungreatfulf of Trump to do this…..If it wasn’t for Assange Trump would not be president now….
@John003: yes.. but he has no use for him now
@John003: I agree with both you & Fergal..
I don’t like snake oil salesmen like tRump who only wanted to enrich himself and his ilk further…
Just use a cruise missle – sure what does it matter if a few knobs get in the way they still get their man!
Compromising someones political ambitions one thing but compromising national security is a far more serious matter. Democrats as usual have their priorities in reverse.
Are they stupid as ALL the leaks are coming from within the US?
If they were acting proper and not as a business and as a friend to businesses then there would be no leaks, all the leaks prove is how corrupt the US government are???
have your say