The Safe Drinking Water Act directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the quality of drinking water, including its concentration of radon, an acknowledged carcinogen. This book presents a valuable synthesis of information about the total inhalation and ingestion risks posed by radon in public drinking water, including comprehensive reviews of data on the transfer of radon from water to indoor air and on outdoor levels of radon in the United States. It also presents a new analysis of a biokinetic model developed to determine the risks posed by ingestion of radon and reviews inhalation risks and the carcinogenesis process. The volume includes scenarios for quantifying the reduction in health risk that might be achieved by a program to reduce public exposure to radon. Risk Assessment of Radon in Drinking Water, reflecting research and analysis mandated by 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, provides comment on a variety of methods to reduce radon entry into homes and to reduce the concentrations of radon in indoor air and in water. The models, analysis, and reviews of literature contained in this book are intended to provide information that EPA will need to set a new maximum contaminant level, as it is required to do in 2000.

The Safe Drinking Water Act directs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate the quality of drinking water, including its concentration of radon, an acknowledged carcinogen. This book presents a valuable synthesis of information about the total inhalation and ingestion risks posed by radon in public drinking water, including comprehensive reviews of data on the transfer of radon from water to indoor air and on outdoor levels of radon in the United States. It also presents a new analysis of a biokinetic model developed to determine the risks posed by ingestion of radon and reviews inhalation risks and the carcinogenesis process. The volume includes scenarios for quantifying the reduction in health risk that might be achieved by a program to reduce public exposure to radon. Risk Assessment of Radon in Drinking Water, reflecting research and analysis mandated by 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, provides comment on a variety of methods to reduce radon entry into homes and to reduce the concentrations of radon in indoor air and in water. The models, analysis, and reviews of literature contained in this book are intended to provide information that EPA will need to set a new maximum contaminant level, as it is required to do in 2000.

This handbook focuses on residential radon exposure from a public health point of view and provides detailed recommendations on reducing health risks from radon and sound policy options for preventing and mitigating radon exposure. The material in the handbook reflects the epidemiological evidence that indoor radon exposure is responsible for a substantial number of lung cancers in the general population. Information is provided on the selection of devices to measure radon levels and on procedures for the reliable measurement of these levels. Discussed also are control options for radon in new dwellings, radon reduction in existing dwellings as well as assessment of the costs and benefits of different radon prevention and remedial actions. Also covered are radon risk communication strategies and organization of national radon programs.--Publisher's description.

Scientists and regulators have struggled to define the role of theory, experiments, models and common sense in risk analysis. This situation has been made worse by the isolation of theory from modeling, of experimentation from theory, and of practical action from basic science. This book arises from efforts at regulatory agencies and industries to bring more science into health risk analysis so that society may better use limited resources to improve public health. This book covers: the characterization of exposure to pollutants and other sources of risk; the movement of pollutants into the body via inhalation; ingestion, dermal absorption, and exposures to radiation; the movement of a pollutant as it cascades through the tissues and organs of the body; and the development of principles and models for dose-response modeling. The book shows how an understanding of the biological, chemical, and physical properties of the environment and of the human body can guide the selection of mathematical models, and how these models can aid in estimating risks. Included in the book are models covering the full range of topics in human health risk analysis: exposure assessment, rates of intake, deposition and uptake by organs, absorption across membranes, biokinetics, dosimetry, and dose-response. The reader will gain from the book a better understanding of how environmental health science, as applied in risk analysis, can be used to create a more rational basis for the improvement of public health.