RadonEnvironmentalestimates(circa2011):Supplementaldata

Radon 1

TableofContents1.Dataforlifetimeexcesscancerriskestimates.....................................................................2

Overview.........................................................................................................................................2i. EnvironmentalConcentrations......................................................................................................2ii. CalculatedLifetimeCumulativeExposure....................................................................................2iii. UnitRiskFactor...........................................................................................................................2iv. LifetimeExcessCancerRisk(permillionpeople)........................................................................2

Supportingdatabyexposurepathway............................................................................................3i. Outdoorair....................................................................................................................................3ii. Indoorair......................................................................................................................................3iii. Dust.............................................................................................................................................8iv. Drinkingwater.............................................................................................................................8v. FoodandBeverages.....................................................................................................................8

2.Dataqualityforlifetimeexcesscancerriskestimates.........................................................9

3.Dataformappingconcentrations.......................................................................................9Provincialestimates........................................................................................................................9

i. Provincialmeasurements–Bylevel..............................................................................................9ii. Provincialmeasurements–Results............................................................................................16

Radon 2

1. DataforlifetimeexcesscancerriskestimatesOverviewThesummarydatausedtocalculatelifetimeexcesscancerriskandtheresultsforradonareprovidedinthetablesbelow.Formoredetailedinformationonsupportingdataandsources,seebelowforeachexposurepathway.

i. EnvironmentalConcentrations

ii. CalculatedLifetimeCumulativeExposure

iii. UnitRiskFactor

SourcesforUnitRiskFactor:

• UnitedStatesEnvironmentalProtectionAgencyFederalGuidanceReport13.CancerRiskCoefficientsforEnvironmentalExposuretoRadionuclides(1999).

iv. LifetimeExcessCancerRisk(permillionpeople)

1Lifetimeexcesscancerriskbasedonaverageintakexcancerpotencyfactorfromeachagency2Lifetimeexcesscancerriskbasedonmaximumintakexhighestcancerpotencyfactor3CaliforniaOfficeofEnvironmentalHealthHazardAssessment

Radon 3

Supportingdatabyexposurepathway

i. Outdoorair

Weassumeradonispresentattheselevelsinalloutdoorair,althoughconcentrationsmayvarygreatlyfromonelocationtoanother.Sourcesforoutdoorairdata:

• GrastyRL.(1994).SummerOutdoorRadonVariationsinCanadaandTheirRelationtoSoilMoisture.HealthPhysics66(2)pp:185-193.

ii. Indoorair

Radon 4

Radon 5

Radon 6

Radon 7

Sourcesforindoorairdata:

• BCCDC(BritishColumbiaCentreforDiseaseControl)2007.Tableofradonmeasurements.• CarrierePE,LegareJ.1987.Radonandradondaughtersinhomesofradioactiveanomaliesof

Quebec–Oneyearstudy.IndoorRadonII-ProceedingofthesecondAPCAInternationalspecialtyconference.NewJersey:42-58.CitedinDessauetal2004.

• CarrierePE.1983.Mesuresdesderivesduradondansl’aircertainesmaisonspriveesduPontiac.RapportInterne.Ministeredel’EnvironnementduQuebec.CitedinDessauetal2004.

• ChenJ,SchrothE,MacKinlayE,FifeI,SorimachiA,andTokonamiS.2009.Simultaneous222Rnand220RnMeasurementsinWinnipeg,Canada.RadiationProtectionDosimetry134(2):75-78.

• ChenJ,TokonamiS,SorimachiA,TakahashiH,andFalcomerR.2008.PreliminaryResultsofSimultaneousRadonandThoronTestsinOttawa.RadiationProtectionDosimetry130(2):253-256.

• DessauJC,GagnonF,LevesqueB,PrevostC,LeclercJMandBelle-IslesJC.2004.LeRadonauQuebecEvaluationduRisquealaSanteetAnalyseCritiquedesStrategiesd’Intervention.InstitutNationaldeSantePubliqueduQuebec.

Radon 8

• DoylePJ,GrastyRL,andCharbonneauBW.1990.Predictinggeographicvariationsinindoorradonusingairbornegamma-rayspectrometry.Currentresearch,PartA,GeologicalSurveyofCanada,Paper90-1A,27-32.CitedinDessauetal2004.

• DirectiondesSantePubliquedesLaurentides,2002.Unpublished.CitedinDessauetal2004.• DirectiondesSantePubliquedesLaurentides,dateunknown.Unpublished.CitedinDessauetal

2004.• DirectiondesSantePubliquedelaMonteregie,dateunknown.Unpublished.CitedinDessauet

al2004.• GrattonM,LacroixMA,LizotteA,andRouillonP.2004.Campagnededepistageduradon

domiciliaireaBaie-Johan-Beetz.RapportpresentedanslecadreducoursFormationprofessionnelleenentreprisesENV778,SuperviseesparGagnonF,UniversitedeSherbrooke.CitedinDessauetal2004.

• HealthCanada.2012.Cross-CanadaSurveyofRadonConcentrationsinHomes-FinalReport.EnvironmentalandWorkplaceHealth.Availableat:http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/radiation/survey-sondage/index-eng.php.

• LetourneauEG,KrewskiD,ChoiNW,GoddardMJ,McGregorRG,ZielinskiJMandDuJ.1994.Case-ControlStudyofResidentialRadonandLungCancerinWinnipeg,Manitoba,Canada.AmericanJournalofEpidemiology140(4):310-322.

• LetourneauEG,McGregorRGandWalkerWB.1984.DesignandInterpretationofLargeSurveysforIndoorExposuretoRadonDaughters.RadiationProtectionDosimetry7(1-4):303-308.

• LevesqueB,GauvinD,McGregorRG,MartelR,GingasS,DontignyA,WalkerWBandLajoieP.1995.Etuded’expositionauradon222danslesresidencesdelaprovinceduQuebec.CitedinDessauetal2004.

• SavardM,DessauJC,andPellerinE.1999a.LeradonaOka–mesurescomplementairesdeconcentrationsderadonRegieregionaldelasantéetdesservicessociauxdesLaurentides,Directiondelasantépublique,St-Jerome).CitedinDessauetal2004.

• SavardM,PellerinE,andDessauJC.1999b.EvaluationdesrisquesdesurexpositionsauradondansunsecteurdescollinesdeSaint-Andre-Est-MunicipalitedeSaint-Andre-d’Argenteuil(RapportdelaDirectionregionaledelasantépubliquedesLaurentides).CitedinDessauetal2004.

• SavardM,DessauJC,andPellerinE.1998.LeradonaOka–Rapportd’interventiondesantépublique(RegieregionaldelasantéetdesservicessociauxdesLaurentides,Directiondelasantépublique,St-Jerome).CitedinDessauetal2004.

iii. DustExposuretoradonviaingestionofdustisexpectedtobenegligible.

iv. DrinkingwaterRadonmaybepresentindrinkingwaterbutisquicklyvolatilizedtoindoorair.Exposureviaingestionofdrinkingwaterisnegligible.

v. FoodandBeveragesExposuretoradonviafoodsandbeveragesisexpectedtobenegligible.

Radon 9

2. DataqualityforlifetimeexcesscancerriskestimatesOnlypubliclyavailabledatawereusedtocalculatetheseindicators.Datathatarenotpubliclyavailablemayproducedifferentresults.Nosystematicmethodformeasuringdataqualitywaspossible,soweprovidethefollowingassessmentsofhowwellthedatausedmayrepresenttheactualCanadianaveragelevels.QualityisratedhigherwhentherearedatafromanumberofCanadianmonitors,orfromCanadianstudiesthatshowresultssimilartoothercomparablestudies.Qualityisratedlowerwhendatafromfewmonitorsorstudieswereavailable,andlowestwhenestimatesarebasedonnon-Canadiandata.Othersmayratedataqualitydifferently.

3. DataformappingconcentrationsProvincialestimates

i. Provincialmeasurements–BylevelThetablesbelowshowthepercentageoftestedhomesineachprovinceandterritorythatfallwithdifferentlevels.TheWorldHealthOrganizationreferenceleveliscurrently100Bq/m3,andthecurrentCanadianguidelineis200Bq/m3.

Radon 10

Canada:

Radon 11

BC:

AB:

Radon 12

SK:

MB:

Radon 13

ON:

Radon 14

QC:

Radon 15

NB,NS&PEI:

NFL:

Radon 16

YT,NT&NU:

ii. Provincialmeasurements–ResultsWeused100Becquerelspercubicmeter(Bq/m3)torepresenttheaveragelevelinCanadianhomes,butlevelscanvaryregionallyandfromhometohome,makingitdifficulttoestimatetheaverageaccurately.Radonlevelsareinfluencedbybuildingstructure,ageandcondition,andbecauseofdifferencesinthesefactors,canbeelevatedinonehomebutnotinthehomenextdoor.Itisnotpossibletopredictwhetheranyonehomewillhaveahighlevelofradonanditisrecommendedthatallhomesbetested.Thetablesbelowprovideasummaryofprovincialandterritorialradonmeasurementsreportedoverthepast30years.Manyindividualsmayhavehadtheirhomestestedindependently,butthoseresultsarenotpubliclyavailable.

Radon 17

2009-2010CrossCanadaRadonSurvey-Phase1Results(Bq/m3)byProvinceandTerritory(n=numberofsamples)

SummaryofRadonMeasurements(Bq/m3)Priorto2009(n=numberofsamples)

Radon 18

Radon 19

Radon 20

Sourcesforprovincialestimates:• McGregorRG,VasudevP,LetourneauEG,McCulloughRS,PrantlFA,andTaniguchiH.1980.

BackgroundConcentrationsofRadonandRadonDaughtersinCanadianHomes.HealthPhysics39:285-289.

• BCCDC(BritishColumbiaCentreforDiseaseControl)2007.Tableofradonmeasurements.• LetourneauEG,McGregorRGandWalkerWB.1984.DesignandInterpretationofLargeSurveys

forIndoorExposuretoRadonDaughters.RadiationProtectionDosimetry7(1-4):303-308.• LetourneauEG,KrewskiD,ChoiNW,GoddardMJ,McGregorRG,ZielinskiJMandDuJ.1994.

Case-ControlStudyofResidentialRadonandLungCancerinWinnipeg,Manitoba,Canada.AmericanJournalofEpidemiology140(4):310-322.

• ChenJ,SchrothE,MacKinlayE,FifeI,SorimachiA,andTokonamiS.2009.Simultaneous222Rnand220RnMeasurementsinWinnipeg,Canada.RadiationProtectionDosimetry134(2):75-78.

• ChenJ,TokonamiS,SorimachiA,TakahashiH,andFalcomerR.2008.PreliminaryResultsofSimultaneousRadonandThoronTestsinOttawa.RadiationProtectionDosimetry130(2):253-256.

• CarrierePE.1983.Mesuresdesderivesduradondansl’aircertainesmaisonspriveesduPontiac.RapportInterne.Ministeredel’EnvironnementduQuebec.CitedinDessauetal2004.*

• CarrierePE,LegareJ.1987.RadonandradondaughtersinhomesofradioactiveanomaliesofQuebec–Oneyearstudy.IndoorRadonII-ProceedingofthesecondAPCAInternationalspecialtyconference.NewJersey:42-58.CitedinDessauetal2004.*

• DoylePJ,GrastyRL,andCharbonneauBW.1990.Predictinggeographicvariationsinindoorradonusingairbornegamma-rayspectrometry.Currentresearch,PartA,GeologicalSurveyofCanada,Paper90-1A,27-32.CitedinDessauetal2004.

• SavardM,PellerinE,andDessauJC.1999b.EvaluationdesrisquesdesurexpositionsauradondansunsecteurdescollinesdeSaint-Andre-Est-MunicipalitedeSaint-Andre-d’Argenteuil

Radon 21

(RapportdelaDirectionregionaledelasantépubliquedesLaurentides).CitedinDessauetal2004.*

• LevesqueB,GauvinD,McGregorRG,MartelR,GingasS,DontignyA,WalkerWBandLajoieP.1995.Etuded’expositionauradon222danslesresidencesdelaprovinceduQuebec.CitedinDessauetal2004.*

• SavardM,DessauJC,andPellerinE.1998.LeradonaOka–Rapportd’interventiondesantépublique(RegieregionaldelasantéetdesservicessociauxdesLaurentides,Directiondelasantépublique,St-Jerome).CitedinDessauetal2004.*SavardM,DessauJC,andPellerinE.1999a.LeradonaOka–mesurescomplementairesdeconcentrationsderadonRegieregionaldelasantéetdesservicessociauxdesLaurentides,Directiondelasantépublique,St-Jerome).CitedinDessauetal2004.*

• DirectiondesSantePubliquedesLaurentides,2002.Unpublished.CitedinDessauetal2004.• DirectiondesSantePubliquedesLaurentides,dateunknown.Unpublished.CitedinDessauetal

2004.*• DirectiondesSantePubliquedelaMonteregie,dateunknown.Unpublished.CitedinDessauet

al2004.*• GrattonM,LacroixMA,LizotteA,andRouillonP.2004.Campagnededepistageduradon

domiciliaireaBaie-Johan-Beetz.RapportpresentedanslecadreducoursFormationprofessionnelleenentreprisesENV778,SuperviseesparGagnonF,UniversitedeSherbrooke.CitedinDessauetal2004.*

• JacksonSA.1992.EstimatingRadonPotentialfromanAerialRadiometricSurvey.HealthPhysics62(5):450–452.

*DessauJC,GagnonF,LevesqueB,PrevostC,LeclercJMandBelle-IslesJC.2004.LeRadonauQuebecEvaluationduRisquealaSanteetAnalyseCritiquedesStrategiesd’Intervention.InstitutNationaldeSantePubliqueduQuebec.