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R. T. Ravenholt, MD, MPH
World Health Surveys, Inc Bethesda, Md

JAMA. 1987;258(24):3514-3515.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

When the foremost determinant of a phenomenon is omitted from consideration, researchers are necessarily perplexed—as revealed in the Aug 7, 1987, issue of JAMA, which was largely devoted to articles on radiation hazards: "One of the strangest things about radon is that its level in any given house is totally unpredictable. Speakers from Canada and Ireland told how the highest and lowest levels measured in their countries were in identical houses standing side by side, and other participants nodded in frustrated agreement."¹

Their frustration will continue until they integrate the following facts and considerations into their research:

Household radon levels, derivative of radium present in the earth's crust, are ordinarily estimated from the number of alpha particles detected in measured quantities of household air during a unit of time.²

Tobacco smoke contains polonium 210, also an alpha particle-emitting radioisotope and a descendent of radon that . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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