US EPA

1431951 

Technical Report 

Epidemiologic Studies Of Lung Disease Among Miners Exposed To Increased Levels Of Radon Daughters 

Archer, VE 

1900 

NIOSH/00132162 

pages 13 

13-22 

Lung cancers from 15 different mining groups were analyzed to determine what factors influence lung cancer rates. Data was obtained from the United States Public Health Service, and Swedish, Czechoslovakian, and Canadian mining groups. The roles of radiation, cigarette smoking, age, and height on resultant lung disease were explored in United States uranium (7440611) miners. The frequency of respiratory cancers increased with increasing exposure to radiation and to cigarette smoking. Short miners had the highest cancer rates. Supplemental data from other countries indicated that at low exposures or at low exposure rates, alpha radiation was more efficient in inducing lung cancer. Background concentrations of radon-220 (22481487) averaged 185 and 416 picoCuries per cubic meter for outdoors and indoors, respectively. Radon-222 (14859677) contributed 40 percent of the dose of radon-220. Most miners averaged about 75 percent of their time indoors. It was calculated that the average instantaneous exposure was 0.002 Working Level or 0.12 Working Level Months per year. (Working Level Month was defined as the exposure a worker would receive for 1 month at an average concentration of potential alpha energy per liter of air). Lung cancer rate for nonsmokers was calculated to be about 19 per 100,000 person years. The author concludes that information obtained from cancer rate and background radiation curves should be extrapolated upward from the lowest point on the curve instead of the usual downward extrapolation from high exposure. 

DCN-122713; Cancer rates; Comparative toxicology; Occupational respiratory disease; Employee exposure; Health hazards; Radiation hazards; Risk analysis; Safety research; Exposure levels