Answer to Question #12988 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Environmental and Background Radiation — Radon

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

Q

I am eight weeks pregnant with our first child. We live in Arizona and recently had our bedroom checked for radon gas after a neighbor suggested we do so because they had found higher radon in their house next door. It was an at-home test for 64 hours and the result was 6.4 pCi L-1 (173 Bq L-1) 1 in our bedroom. What are the effects that might have already occurred to my baby? I spend about 12–14 hours of each day in the bedroom including sleep. We will be retesting and testing the rest of the house immediately and calling companies to see about fixing the problem. I am also going to start wearing a P100 filter mask all the time while I am in our house even while sleeping. Any other suggestions you might have? What do you think the exposure risks are to the baby so far and what might be the implications going forward? Any advice/information would be very appreciated.

A

You have taken the right steps to measure radon in your home and proceed with mitigation since the levels in your bedroom exceed the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance. The only well-established health risk from indoor radon is lung cancer due to inhalation of the decay products of radon. While in utero, your baby is not inhaling the air in your bedroom, thus is not directly exposed to radon decay products. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the slightly elevated radon level would have had any effect on your unborn child.

There have been few, if any, direct epidemiological studies on the effects of indoor radon on the developing fetus. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Toxicological Profile for Radon states that "no maternal or fetal reproductive effects in humans have been attributed to exposure to radon and its progeny." The National Academy of Sciences report Health Effects of Exposure to Radon (commonly known as BEIR VI) was not able to reach any conclusion with regard to adverse effects on the fetus. They did note one study with regard to reproductive outcomes that was cited in an earlier National Academy of Sciences report that characterized the association between reproductive outcome and radon as "weak" and found the data to be "sparse." The radon references in the literature do not generally address reproductive effects. If indoor radon, in fact, had a significant effect on the fetus, it most likely would have been reported in the extensive scientific literature that has been published over the last 20 years and summarized by the National Academy of Sciences, the International Commission on Radiological Protection, and the ATSDR.

The bottom line is that indoor radon at the level measured in your bedroom would not affect the health of your unborn child. Use of a dust mask to prevent inhaled radon decay products from impacting the fetus is probably not necessary. However, radon mitigation is a reasonable step to take to protect your family and your infant once he or she is born.

Janet A. Johnson, PhD, CHP
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1 The radon concentration units are given here in pCi L-1 (called traditional units) because that is the unit used by the US Environmental Protection Agency. However, the Health Physics Society has adopted the SI (International System) of units and these are given in parentheses.

Ask the Experts is posting answers using only SI (the International System of Units) in accordance with international practice. To convert these to traditional units we have prepared a conversion table. You can also view a diagram to help put the radiation information presented in this question and answer in perspective. Explanations of radiation terms can be found here.
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