Every Day Radon Gas Levels and the New International Commission on Radiological Protection, Alpha to Lung Tissue Effective Dose Coefficient

Please join us Tuesday Jan 8th, 2018, 12:00PM to 1:00PM PST when Greg Baytalan will be presenting:

‘Every Day Radon Gas Levels and the New International Commission on Radiological Protection, Alpha to Lung Tissue Effective Dose Coefficient’. 

Please click this link  to view the presentation on Jan 8^th

BCCDC Public Health Grand Rounds is a self-approved group learning activity as defined by the Maintenance of Certification program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.  Offsite participants (MDs only) can earn MoC credits by notifying Cletus.DSouza@bccdc.ca  about their attendance providing their name, title, institution, email address & phone. 

Speaker Bio:

Greg has worked in Environmental Public Health since the mid 1980’s and is presently a Specialist Environmental Health Officer at Interior Health.  His focus is air quality, indoor and outdoor, including wildfire smoke, noise and radiation.  He holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Science, an Environmental Health Technology diploma from BCIT, and is certified with the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors.

In 2010 Greg completed the USA Radon Measurement and Mitigation Proficiency courses and in 2012 the Canadian transitional exams for the Canadian National Radon Proficiency Program (C-NRPP) certification.

Summary: 

Radon Gas is described by several leading agencies as the second cause of lung cancer next to smoking.  This global colourless, odourless and tasteless gas is dubbed the silent killer.  The Health Canada 2012 Cross-Canada Radon Survey strengthens the aspect that all Canadian indoor environments should be tested for radon, with the BC interior being of heightened concern.

In 2012 Interior Health entered into a Health Canada Radon Awareness Memorandum of Agreement and embarked on numerous projects, including the testing of daycares and public buildings.  In January 2018 the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) doubled the Alpha to lung dose coefficient from 5 to 10.  This is worthy of attention in that radon gas contributes a significant portion of the Canadian annual average millisievert dose.  With mSv/year typically referenced for radiation dosage in the workplace, this talk will show the high contribution of indoor radon to mSv/year dose, and highlight the importance of testing all indoor environments for radon gas.