Radon, smoking, and lung cancer: The need to refocus radon control policy

P.M. Lantz, D. Mendez and M.A. Philbert

American Journal of Public Health, 2013, vol. 103, issue 3, 443-447

Abstract: Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, and the risk is significantly higher for smokers than for nonsmokers. More than 85% of radon-induced lung cancer deaths are among smokers. The most powerful approach for reducing the public health burden of radon is shaped by 2 overarching principles: public communication efforts that promote residential radon testing and remediation will be the most cost effective if they are primarily directed at current and former smokers; and focusing on smoking prevention and cessation is the optimal strategy for reducing radon-induced lung cancer in terms of both public health gains and economic efficiency. Tobacco control policy is the most promising route to the public health goals of radon control policy.

Keywords: radon, article; cost benefit analysis; economics; environmental exposure; health care policy; health care quality; human; lung tumor; smoking; smoking cessation, Cost-Benefit Analysis; Environmental Exposure; Health Policy; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Program Evaluation; Radon; Smoking; Smoking Cessation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300926

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2012.300926_6

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300926

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().