快猫短视频

MILLIONS of people in China are running an increased risk of cancer because
their drinking water is naturally radioactive, according to a new study.

Groundwater from wells provides drinking water for most of the 33 million
people who live in Fujian Province in south-east China. But the water is
contaminated with high levels of radon-222, which has leached out of granite.
Over a lifetime, the risk of contracting cancer from drinking a litre of the
radioactive water a day is 1.7 in a thousand, say scientists from the Fujian
Institute of Radiation Health Protection and Japan鈥檚 Nagoya University.

As a result it seems people in the area are especially prone to cancer. 鈥淭he
incidences of malignant tumours in both respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts
in Fujian are the highest in China,鈥� the researchers say. They add that
restrictions on drinking water may be needed.

The radiation emitted by radon in 277 out of 282 samples of groundwater in
Fujian breaches the US Environment Protection Agency鈥檚 recommended maximum of
11.1 kilobecquerels per cubic metre for drinking water. The average level of
radiation鈥�147.8 kBq per cubic metre鈥攊s many times higher than the
emissions from most American and European drinking water.

Gerry Kendall from the British National Radiological Protection Board says it
would be 鈥渟ensible鈥� to control drinking of the most contaminated water in
Fujian. But he points out that radon, which is a gas, can be easily removed from
water by bubbling air through it.