The Nation - News from Nov. 9, 1987

More than three of every 100 people exposed to radon at the federal government’s guideline level will die of lung cancer, the National Academy of Sciences finds in a new, unreleased study, the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call reported. Scheduled for release next month, the report confirms what the Environmental Protection Agency has been saying since high radon levels were first recorded three years ago in eastern Pennsylvania--that the radioactive gas is seriously threatening the health of homeowners around the country, the newspaper said. The 640-page report also finds that cigarette smokers routinely exposed to the odorless, colorless gas double their risk of dying from lung cancer. News of the academy’s report comes as Congress and the EPA are battling over whether health standards for the naturally occurring radioactive gas should be issued by the federal government.