Fabrikant J I
Donner Laboratory and Donner Pavilion, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
Environ Health Perspect. 1990 Jun;86:275-80. doi: 10.1289/ehp.9086275.
Recognition that radon and its daughter products may accumulate to high levels in homes and in the workplace has led to concern about the potential lung cancer risk resulting from indoor domestic exposure. While such risks can be estimated with current dosimetric and epidemiological models for excess relative risks, it must be recognized that these models are based on data from occupational exposure and from underground miners' mortality experience. Several assumptions are required to apply risk estimates from an occupational setting to the indoor domestic environment. Analyses of the relevant data do not lead to a conclusive description of the interaction between radon daughters and cigarette smoking for the induction of lung cancer. The evidence compels the conclusion that indoor radon daughter exposure in homes represents a potential life-threatening public health hazard, particularly in males, and in cigarette smokers. Resolution of complex societal interactions will require public policy decisions involving the governmental, scientific, financial, and industrial sectors. These decisions impact the home, the workplace, and the marketplace, and they extend beyond the constraints of science. Risk identification, assessment, and management require scientific and engineering approaches to guide policy decisions to protect the public health. Mitigation and control procedures are only beginning to receive attention. Full acceptance for protection against what could prove to be a significant public health hazard in the twenty-first century will certainly involve policy decisions, not by scientists, but rather by men and women of government and law.
人们认识到氡及其子体可能在家庭和工作场所中累积到很高水平，这引发了人们对室内家庭接触氡及其子体可能导致肺癌风险的担忧。虽然可以使用当前的剂量学和流行病学模型来估计这种风险的相对超额风险，但必须认识到，这些模型是基于职业接触数据和地下矿工的死亡经验得出的。要将职业环境中的风险估计应用于室内家庭环境，需要做出几个假设。对相关数据的分析并不能得出关于氡子体与吸烟之间相互作用导致肺癌的确切描述。有证据表明，家庭中室内氡子体接触是一种潜在的危及生命的公共卫生危害，尤其是对男性和吸烟者而言。解决复杂的社会相互作用问题需要政府、科学、金融和工业部门做出公共政策决策。这些决策会影响家庭、工作场所和市场，而且超出了科学的范畴。风险识别、评估和管理需要科学和工程方法来指导保护公众健康的政策决策。缓解和控制措施才刚刚开始受到关注。要全面接受针对二十一世纪可能被证明是重大公共卫生危害的防护措施，肯定需要政府和法律界人士而非科学家做出政策决策。
