High concentrations of radon gas dissolved in well water appear to double the chances that cancer will develop in residents who drink it over several years, researchers from George Mason University who studied houses in Fairfax and Montgomery counties said this week. They tested the drinking water of about 650 houses and compared the cancer rates among people drinking well water containing radon with rates among people drinking municipal water, which contains very little radon.
The scientists found that people who drank well water had about twice the number of cancers of the breast, skin, stomach, kidney, bladder, colon, thyroid and prostate as people who drank uncontaminated municipal water. Lung cancer was not included.
