The Opinions of the Experts

Reactions to the Radon Policy of the EPA

Gloria C. Rains
Environmentalist, chair of Manasota-88 (a public interest group concerned with environmental issues), not formally educated in science
Rains has urged her home state of Florida to set indoor action levels at 2pCi/L and require radon testing on all buildings before sale. Often critical of the EPA, Rains testified before the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in 1987 that current policy proposals did not go far enough, urging: "That Congress direct EPA to develop standards limiting radon exposure to natural background levels," She is also desirous of the creation of a "provision of federal and state tax relief to enable homeowners to correct radon problems" and a "publicly funded radon testing service to be offered." 1
William R. Hendee
Radiation physicist, vice president for science and technology of the American Medical Association 1985-1991, associate dean of the Medical College of Wisconsin since 1991
During his time at the AMA, he authored several articles on radon, endorsing the 4 pCi action level and other EPA advisories. From 1988-1991 grants from the EPA for education of physicians exceeded $250,000, and Hendee fully supports the government policy and says "one would prefer to overestimate rather than underestimate the risks."2
Richard Guimond
Director of EPA's Office of Radiation Programs, M.S. in nuclear engineering, environmental health
In response to questioning about his campaign with the Ad Council, Guimond said "Without a doubt the unsettlement of the original Ad Council campaign troubled a lot of scientists," but "it was in fact effective in getting the message across to people that radon is a concern, and you want to test your house."3 At the Science Writers Workshop sponsored by the DOE in April 1991, Guimond displayed a chart based on the findings of the NAS that even at levels as low as 2 pCi/L, one person out of a hundred will die of radon. Apparently, Guimond and the EPA have accepted the linearity hypothesis in their approach to the radon problem.
Ernest G. Letourneau
Canadian physician, Director of Canada's Department of National Health and Welfare 1968-1978, Director of the Radiation Protection Bureau since 1978 and central figure in the building of Canada's radon policy
Letourneau deems the U.S. policy too aggressive, and notes that the reducing the U.S. action level to 2 pCi/L "would mean a significant number of places in large areas of Canada could not even meet an indoor standard, because natural levels are higher."1 In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, natural outdoor levels often approach 3 pCi/L, although lung cancer is no more common in those areas. It is absurd, he says, that "according to our risk estimates, normal, unpolluted outdoor air is unsafe to breathe." 5
Susan L. Rose, manager of radon programs in the DOE since 1987, Ph.D. in medical technology, Professor of Biology.
Rose is very cognizant of politics inside government agencies and the different roles of the EPA and the DOE. Rose mentioned the DOE's role as researcher instead of policy maker, however in recent years the EPA has received more funding for radon research, and the DOE has been budgeted for less (1990: $13 million, 1991: $10 million).6 "Our message at the Department of Energy is one of uncertainty because that is what we do--we look at scientific questions yet to be answered." "Consumers certainly deserve to hear what we do know and what we don't know, and then have the option to make an educated decision about their own homes and their own safety."
Anthony V. Nero, Jr.
Physicist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California
Nero figures that a strategy of testing and remediating homes based on the current EPA action level of 4 pCi would cost $20 billion (twice the projection of the EPA) and is especially critical of the EPA's brochures claiming that "having radon in your home is like exposing you family to hundreds of chest x-rays yearly."7 Nero notes the lack of distinction between different levels of radon and worries that "Information of this kind with the EPA tap on it, if fully implemented, could lead to a much bigger program than one for $10 billion or $20 billion. It would be a program on the order of $50 billion or $100 billion." Nero also observes that a 2 pCi/L action level would reduce lung cancer deaths by one percent of the number caused by smoking. Nero suggests targeting only houses whose radon concentrations exceed 20 pCi/L, the occupational standard.
Rosalyn S. Yalow
Health physicist, winner 1977 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for the development of the immunoassay, staff member of the Bronx Veterans Administration Medical Center since 1947.
Yalow has long felt that the EPA has overemphasized the threat of radon despite criticism from government officials. Yalow states that scientists know the truth about radon, but will not openly oppose the national policy in fear of losing their funding.8 She explains that radon, like other radiation emitters, has always been present, and at the concentrations normally found in homes causes no harm. Only when present at very high levels, and when combined with smoking, has a health danger been established.
Phillip H. Abelson
Editor of the journal Science from 1962-1984, deputy editor since 1984, 1992 recipient of the Public Welfare Medal from the NAS, trained as a physicist, codiscoverer of the element Neptunium.
In his article "Uncertainties about the Health Effects of Radon," Abelson estimated that the cost to homeowners to reduce indoor levels to those outdoors would average $10,000, meaning the national expenditure exceeds $800 billion. He also states that the linearity assumption behind the government's policy "has never been proved," and that any radon policy is unwarranted and wasteful. Most of the citizens of the United States are nonsmokers. When EPA depends on data from miners to justify frightening nonsmokers it is engaged in a highly dubious enterprise. In summary, extrapolation of questionable data from mines is of doubtful value as a foundation for national policy involving a possible trillion dollars or more. Abelson also challenges EPA estimates of the number of annual lung cancer deaths attributable to radon. "Such a large number--whether 43,200, 20,000, or 16,000--should be glaringly evident from even a casual epidemiological survey." He refers to studies showing lower than average lung cancer rates in states with the highest radon levels, and says that the statistics "seem to demonstrate that, if anything, moderate levels of radon are beneficial to the public health."9 Since the linear hypothesis was developed 50 years earlier in the absence of solid data, current data indicate to the contrary. "It is now known that repair mechanisms exist," and an adaptive response may explain how "low level radiations make the cells less susceptible to subsequent high doses of radiation." Abelson accuses the EPA of irresponsibly engaging in scare tactics in their claims that children are three times more susceptible than adults to radon harm, for the BEIR V report states that damage from ionizing radiation does not depend on age at exposure. "The EPA is in the process of destroying the credibility of the federal government."

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Reactions to the Radon Policy of the EPA

Gloria C. Rains

Environmentalist, chair of Manasota-88 (a public interest group concerned with environmental issues), not formally educated in science

William R. Hendee

Radiation physicist, vice president for science and technology of the American Medical Association 1985-1991, associate dean of the Medical College of Wisconsin since 1991

Richard Guimond

Director of EPA's Office of Radiation Programs, M.S. in nuclear engineering, environmental health

Ernest G. Letourneau

Canadian physician, Director of Canada's Department of National Health and Welfare 1968-1978, Director of the Radiation Protection Bureau since 1978 and central figure in the building of Canada's radon policy

Anthony V. Nero, Jr.

Physicist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California

Rosalyn S. Yalow

Health physicist, winner 1977 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for the development of the immunoassay, staff member of the Bronx Veterans Administration Medical Center since 1947.

Phillip H. Abelson

Editor of the journal Science from 1962-1984, deputy editor since 1984, 1992 recipient of the Public Welfare Medal from the NAS, trained as a physicist, codiscoverer of the element Neptunium.