Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, there will be an estimated 235,760 new cases of lung cancer in 2021.
Of those, 119,100 will be reported in men while 116,660 will be diagnosed in women.
The ACS expects that there will be a total of around 131,880 deaths from lung cancer. Of those, more than half - 69,410 - will be men while 62,470 will be women.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that in the US about 10 percent to 20 percent of lung cancers, or 20,000 to 40,000 lung cancers each year, happen in people who never smoked or smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.
Researchers estimate that secondhand smoke contributes to about 7,300 cases and exposure to radon, a radioactive gas that has no taste or odor, to about 2,900 cases of these lung cancers.
Radon is emitted in varying quantities or concentrations from radioactive elements, for example Uranium, that are naturally present in rocks and soils.
Epidemiological studies on the health of miners undertaken by the United States Public Health Service during the 1950s and 1960s established a link between higher concentrations of Radon and incidences of lung cancer.
As Radon is emitted from the ground, it quickly dilutes in the atmosphere into relatively harmless concentrations.
But in confined and unventilated spaces in buildings, in basements and in underground mines, it’s concentration levels can become dangerously high.
Radon itself does not really cause tissue damage.
It is the decay products, sometimes referred to as the progeny or daughters of Radon, that do.
Radon gas may be inhaled and exhaled with little damaging effect.
But the decay products include Radon - 222 (derived from Uranium - 238) and Radon - 220 (also known as Thoron, and derived from Thorium - 232), and other progeny including Polonium-218, 214 and 210, that can.
In fact, Radon - 222, is on the World Health Organization's list of things that definitely cause cancer.
Epidemiological studies on the health of miners undertaken by the United States Public Health Service during the 1950s and 1960s also established a link between higher concentrations of Radon and incidences of lung cancer.
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