Radon-222 in the Gastrointestinal Tract

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Abstract
The New England [USA] states have a long involved history of Rn in individual well water supplies. As a result of these previous findings on the abundance of Rn, coupled with its potential health impact, the New England Radiological Health Committee (NERHC) formulated a technical working group in 1980, which was charged with evaluating the possibility of developing uniform concentration guidelines for Rn in individual domestic water supplies. This working group determined that the current ICRP [International Commission on Radiological Protection] Publication 30 metabolic model for the gastrointestinal (GI) tract was inadequate to address the empirically observed rates of 222Rn removal from the body. A modification to the ICRP Publication 30 GI tract model was proposed which attempted to resolve these differences. Calculations were presented, using the original and modified ICRP Publication 30 models, which indicated that individual potable water supplies containing 222Rn concentrations as high as 400,000 pCi/l did not significantly increase the probability of stomach or intestinal cancer, as defined by the [USA] BEIR [Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation] III risk estimates. Since this paper dealt exclusively with the GI tract, no attempt was made to address the lung burden imposed by the contribution of Rn released into the household air by aeration at the tap or other fixtures. Only when the contribution of the Rn water source term to the respiratory and ingestion pathways was evaluated as a whole can any meaningful standard for 222Rn in individual domestic water supplies be established.

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