WORCESTER, Mass., March 26 (UPI) -- Scientists have found exposure to the low levels of radon gas found in most U.S. homes might cut the risk of developing lung cancer by up to 60 percent.
The study by researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Fallon Clinic and Fallon Community Health Plan, is said to be the first to observe a statistically significant hormetic effect of low-level radon exposure.
Home exposure to radon, a naturally occurring radioactive decay product of radium, has been thought to be the second leading cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking. Chemically inert, it can percolate from the ground into basements.
"It is important to note that these new results do not dispute the lung cancer risk associated with higher levels of radon exposure … ," said Donald Nelson, now professor emeritus of physics at WPI who initiated the study during the 1990s.
"Nevertheless, the results represent a dramatic departure from previous results and beliefs," added Nelson. "Of course, a single epidemiological study is seldom regarded as definitive, so our results point to the need for new studies using our techniques."
The research appears in the March issue of the journal Health Physics.
