The paranoid "hot particle" theory fails miserably because indoor radon does not increase lung cancer in neversmokers.

Nearly one in 15 homes in the U.S. has a high level of indoor radon according to their statistics.

Those models projected that indoor radon contributed to 15,400 to 21,800 of the 157,400 lung cancer deaths reported in the United States in 1995.

(Average indoor radon level)

Generally indoor radon can be mitigated by sub-slab depressurization and exhausting such radon-laden air to the outdoors, away from windows and other building openings.

Beginning in the 1970s research was initiated to address sources of indoor radon, determinants of concentration, health effects, and approaches to mitigation.

In the United States, the problem of indoor radon received widespread publicity and intensified investigation after a widely publicized incident in 1984.

The conclusion that such sites pose no real hazard and that we should be more worried about indoor radon and worn tires is unproved.

To the Editor: The Environmental Protection Agency recently released two documents on indoor radon, a radioactive gas found in many homes.

As many as 22,000 people die from lung cancer each year in the United States from exposure to indoor radon.