Permafrost Could Release Gas Linked To Lung Cancer Due To Climate Change, Study Says

Experts believed that permafrost in the Arctic region could release gas that has been linked to lung cancer due to effects of climate change.

Radioactive Gas

The substance is called radon, a radioactive gas that has the potential to cause cancer among individuals. Researchers revealed that this colorless, odorless gas has been a step in the radioactive decay of naturally occurring uranium.

They said that the gas is known for accumulating inside residences, especially in basements. This gas was found to have raised the long-term risk of lung cancer for residents.

Radon can pose a serious risk to human health, according to earlier studies. At present, radon has been considered as the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking.

The potential risk of radon exposure in cold regions of Northern Hemisphere is increasing due to climate-induced permafrost degradation. In the study, experts took permafrost regions in the Northern Hemisphere as their study area.

They performed an extensive literature review on the Web of Science (WoS), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Google Scholar (GS) wherein they divided these selected literatures into three groups: Group uranium, Group radon and Group permafrost.

They tried to reveal the impacts of distribution of uranium deposits/u-rich rocks and permafrost/permafrost degradation on radon concentration/migration in permafrost regions.

''Based our research, it is evident that uranium deposits or U-rich rocks provides an abundant source of U (Ra) for soils and groundwaters in permafrost regions, resulting in abnormally high concentrations of radioactive elements in soils and groundwaters,'' the experts said.

As a natural barrier, permafrost soils could screen the radon gas from migrating into underground dwellings and work-space in cold regions.

However, permafrost degradation has been extensively observed and this trend is projected to continue under a warming climate.

Permafrost degradation and ground ice melting, water exchange, gas emissions and thaw settlement have enhanced the ability of radon migration into dwellings and work space, which substantially endangers human health if long exposed.

Radon Migration

Further, the synthesis results also underscored that the related research of radon migration and relation in permafrost regions are grossly inadequate and urgently needed.

Research priorities include the mechanisms of radon migration in freezing, frozen, thawing and thawed soils/rocks, responses of release of radon sequestered in permafrost soils and radon migration in groundwater systems, among many others, to permafrost degradation.

The study also interestingly found out that the risk of radon-induced lung cancer is significantly higher for smokers than that for nonsmokers.

More than 85% of radon-induced lung cancer deaths are found among smokers.

Therefore, due to the high smoking rate (especially for male) in some countries or regions (for example, China, with a male smoking rate of 52.1% in 2015, and Russia, that of 66.2% in 2012, sociological factors also should also be taken into account while assessing radon risk in the said regions.