WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it wants to bring radon, a radioactive gas believed to kill thousands of people every year, under its drinking water purity regulations.
Radon dissolved in water and liberated to the air through faucets, showers, laundries and other household activities probably accounts for 30 to 600 deaths from lung cancer each year, a small fraction of the 5,000 to 20,000 such deaths estimated to originate with radon arising directly out of the soil and concentrating in houses, officials told a news conference.
