Name:   MAJ USA RET - Subject:   RADON and GLOBAL WARMING Date:   4/7/2014 9:52:25 AM (updated 4/7/2014 9:56:05 AM)

According to Allstate: “What’s the key risk of radon? - - - It’s the leading cause of lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers in this country, claiming the lives of about 21,000 Americans a year; and, overall, it’s the second leading cause of lung cancer, the EPA says.” http://blog.allstate.com/radon-granite-countertops/  

I defy anyone to show medical evidence of a single residential radon death in the United States! This is right in there with anthropogenic global warming… it is a hoax (with the EPA being the chief abettor).  

a) If you have a basement or crawl space with absolutely no ventilation, you could place one of those $25 detectors in the deepest corner and may get some sort of elevated level. If you have a door to your basement or crawl space… if your crawl space has vents… if your heater or any component of HVAC are located in your basement… if you have a washer/dryer in your basement… you won’t have any significant concentration of radon.

b) AND if you spend a significant portion of your time in the back corner of your air tight crawl space or basement… you MIGHT get exposed. Do you sleep down there… watch TV… dine down there?

c) Radon is in the chain of decay products from fissionable uranium) But, fissioning radon is an alpha emitter. Alpha particles are HUGE and have a very low energy level! They cannot penetrate onion skin.

d) Radon is an inert gas (Rn is located on the far right column of your periodic table). The inert elements DO NOT enter into any bonding relationship with any other elements. So, if you inhale a radon particle… you lose it when you exhale.

e) All radon is not fissionable (unstable isotope: Rn-220 or Rn-222). You would have to inhale a fissionable isotope of radon… hold your breath… have it get trapped in a fold of lung tissue… have it burp that alpha particle at that precise moment (Rn-220 has a half-life of 55.3 seconds and Rn-222 has a half-life of 3.83 days). The alpha particle would have to strike the nucleus of the RNA of soft tissue, genetic material and not destroy it… but cause it to mutate. The mutation would have to survive. The mutation would have to be able to generate copies of itself. Do I need to continue this chain… have you got it yet?

f) The Alamos Handbook of Radiation Monitoring lists NO critical organs for radon). EPA’s own list of screening levels DOES NOT list radon.

g) The Standard handbook of Environmental Engineering suggests you might want to take some mitigating measures at 200 pCi/L. PLEASE! If any of you can get that kind of concentration in your basement or crawl space… I will buy you a case of whiskey. 

You have to work in an unventilated mine to get any significant exposure to radon.