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U.S. Department of Energy
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Radon inhalation studies in animals

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6602104

This report highlights the more recent animal data from the two US studies (UR and PNL) and the French (COGEMA) study. A major report, which particularly addressed the early, acute, radon-toxicity studies, concluded (as did an earlier Federal Radiation Council report), that experimental work prior to the 1970s had not shown that it was possible to produce pulmonary carcinomas in animals, in a systematic way, from controlled exposures to radon and its progeny. Since that review, a discussion of the biological effects in animals of inhaled radon and radon-decay products has appeared. The current literature review report extensively updates the biological-effects data and discussions in the animal data chapter of the book ''Radon and Its Decay Products in Indoor Air.'' Emphasis is placed on the carcinogenic effects of radon and radon-decay products, including the influences of radon-progeny exposure rate, unattached fraction and disequilibrium, and coexposure to other pollutants. These data are correlated with human epidemiological data. Plausible values for the radon (radon-progeny) lifetime lung-cancer risk coefficients are also provided. Sections II, III and IV include general descriptions of materials and methods, as well as major research findings, for the radon toxicology and dosimetry studies conducted at UR, COGEMA and PNL. Section V is a condensation of the more detailed data of the previous sections and includes discussions, conclusions, and tables regarding the dosimetry and carcinogenicity of radon exposures. Section VI contains detailed species-specific data on exposure-effect relationships for all major biological effects caused by radon exposures. Section VII contrasts the human and animal radon-exposure data. 76 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
6602104
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER-0396; ON: DE89004441
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English