Wednesday 21, 1988AThe Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
IPA warns homeowners of possible health risk
By Jeff Pollard
Staff Writer
F new threat to the health of
Americans has been identified, and
Environmental Protection
Agency has issued a warning to
tofieowners that they may need to
mvt the situation taken care of im-
$m hedlately.
™ Badon, a radioactive gas given off
n the decomposition of uranium, is
ist^d by the United States Depart
ment of Health as second only to
smoking as a leading cause of lung
tanler.
The EPA is taking action to in-
brjn the public of the dangers of ra-
lon
lilt J
; 0o[|
of
0C(
The agency had two options in ad
dressing the problem, Dr. Hank
May, a radon researcher with the
EPA, says.
They could create a series of regu
lations that would have to be passed
by Congress, he says, or they could
devise a plan to inform those people
who might be affected.
“The regulation approach could
drag out for a decade or more,” May
says. “We wanted to get right to it
and w'e have developed a number of
programs that are already in ef fect.”
Unlike many other health risks,
the problem wdth radon is a com
pletely natural occurrence. As ura
nium in the soil breaks down, the ra
don emitted makes its wav to the
surface. When it reaches the surface,
the radon dissipates and no longer
presents a health risk.
The problem occurs when the ra
don’s path to the surface is blocked
by a building. The radon is trapped
beneath the foundation until it can
find a new way out of the ground.
Nancy U. Sawtelle, an Assistant
professor who works wath the Texas
Energy Extension Service at Texas
A&M, says that the radon most often
escapes through holes and cracks a
building’s foundation. The radon is
then trapped in the house, she says,
and begins to build up.
“Energy-conservative houses tend
to trap radon more so than others
because they are so well sealed in or
der to conserve energy,” Sawtelle
says. “The best way to solve this
problem is to seal the cracks and
holes and clogging drains that con
nect directly to the ground. If this
can’t be done, there are systems
called heat exchangers that will ven
tilate the house while maintaining its
energy efficiency.”
Dr. Milton McLain, A&M profes
sor of nuclear engineering and un
der-director of radiation research,
says the health risk caused by radon
depends on the type of exposure.
“It is a matter of relative risk,” Mc
Lain says. “For zero radon concen
tration, there is zero risk. As you in
crease the concentration and length
of time exposed to it, you have in
Graduate student hopes to enlighten
adults about who really roams at night
creased the possibility of lung can
cer.”
The EPA has set a concentration
level of four pico-curies/liter (pCi/1)
as the point at which homeowners
should take some sort of action, but
according to May, any level of expo
sure can be dangerous.
“People were calling us all of the
time asking us how' high of a concen
tration is too high,” May says. “We
were forced to set some sort of level.
“What we came up with is not a
safe level because there is no safe
level of concentration. What we are
giving is an action guide. If the con
centration is below' four, we don’t say
that it is safe but that it is not an ur
gent situation.”
May says that according to their
action guide, the situation does not
need to be treated immediately until
the concentration is over 200 pCi/1.
All homeowners should have the
radon level in their homes tested to
determine if action should be taken,
he says.
In addition to homeowners, many
businesses also are running tests for
radon radiation levels, May says.
Typically, high risk areas are lo
cated around large concentrations of
granite, which is partially composed
of uranium, and around commer
cially mined uranium deposits.
Based on this information, the EPA
has listed several areas as potential
“hot spots,” including a large area
north of San Antonio and a line that
runs parallel to the Texas coastline
about 150 miles inland.
By Mia B. Moody
Reporter
Warning, you may be rooming with
sleepwalker.
^Many people believe that sleep-
jr^Bung is something that only af
fects small children, but the truth is
pHie people never stop sleepwalk-
■
Him Dupree, a graduate student in
educational psychology, is doing a
B ^Bertation on sleepwalking. He
^Bes to prove that adults sleepwalk
more than is believed and to find out
more about the causes of sleepwalk
ing
orrection
HA headline in Monday’s Battnl-
fid/i incorrectly reported that en-
IhJlI nent in the Corps of Cadets
cfficreased for Fall 1989. The
Htdine should have read,
lorps enrollment decreases for
Tall ’88.”
■The Battalion regrets the er-
roi
“Sleepwalking began to interest
me when I used to teach educational
psychology courses at Texas A&M,”
Dupree said. “My students told me
so many stories about their room
mates or adult family members
sleepwalking that it led me to believe
that sleepwalking is more prevalent
among adults than it is reported.
Medical journals say 15 percent of
normal children sleepwalk and only
.1 to 1 percent of adults sleepwalk,
but from my experiences, I believe
the rate for adults is a lot higher.”
Dupree’s definition of sleepwalk
ing is a person getting up, leaving
the bed and walking about. While
sleepwalking, the person is unres
ponsive to others and may be diffi
cult to awaken. The person awakens
with no recall of the incident.
“No one knows the cause of sleep
walking, therefore, there is no cure,”
Dupree said. “Psychotherapy, medi
cation and hypnosis can be used to
suppress stage four of the sleep cycle
which is usually when sleepwalking
occurs.
“Stage four happens two to three
hours after a person goes to sleep.
Most people awaken during this cv-
cle to use the restroom, but some
people remain in a deep slumber.
This is when sleepwalkers get up
and walk around.”
Dupree said that in most cases
sleepwalking is not dangerous.
“Sleepwalking is not dangerous
since the sleepwalker usually walks
around for awhile and then goes
back to sleep,” he said. “Sometimes,
however, sleepwalking can become
more serious. Sleepwalkers have ex
perienced problems like holding ba
bies while sleepwalking, choking a
spouse, or waking up in the middle
of the street under a bright lamp in a
night gown.”
Alonzo Sais, a senior political sci
ence major, remembers an incident
at an officer candidate school where
a man was dismissed because he was
a sleepwalker.
“A sleepwalker in combat would
be very dangerous because he might
start walking around one night and
alert the enemies to the location of
his unit,” Sais said.
Last year Dupree worked at the
Central Louisiana State Hospital on
a sleepwalking study. He also
anchored a weeklong news series on
if
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sleepwalking. Dupree said the radio
station sponsored the news series be
cause there had been a recent inci
dent where a man murdered his
mother and blamed it on sleepwalk-
in g-
Participants in Dupree’s study will
be asked about their sleepwalking
tendencies, family life and personal
ity. He will then compare the find
ings of non-sleepwalkers with those
of sleepwalkers. His study will be
conducted nationwide with the help
of professors from colleges in Loui
siana, California, Pennsylvania and
Arizona. These professors wall use
the same research methods as Du
pree and they will then mail him the
results. He will also get information
from the 30 sleep disorder centers in
the United States.
If your roommate walks around
in the middle of the night with a
dazed look in his eyes, you might be
rooming with a sleepwalker. Tell
him if he wants to learn more about
this disorder and assist in a research
project, he should get in contact with
Jim Dupree through the Counsel
ling and Assessment Clinic in the ed
ucational psychology department.
In Advance
Forum to feature former Iranian hostage
“Terrorism
Gulf’ will be
MSC Political
for 8:00 p.m.
Theater.
and the Persian
discussed at the
Forum scheduled
today in Rudder
Col. Charles Scott, a former
Iranian hostage and military in
telligence expert, will speak at the
forum, w'hich is sponsored in co
operation with MSC Jordan Insti
tute.
Scott, a hostage during the
Carter administration, will dis
cuss problems that led to the hos
tage situation and preventative
measures for the future.
Admission for the forum will
be free, and all students, faculty
and staff members are invited.
Exiled Soviet pastor to speak at Duncan
Georgi Vins, a former Soviet
Union citizen who was incarcer
ated for eight years in Soviet
prison camps for his Christian be
liefs, will speak at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday in Duncan Dining
Hall and at 7:30 Friday at Room
201 MSC during the annual Ag
gie Corps Christian Muster.
Other Muster activities will
continue through Saturday.
Vins is a ninth-generation min
ister whose father was an Ameri
can missionary who died in a So
viet prison camp. Vins was a
pastor and evangelist in the So
viet Union before his imprison
ment and exile to the United
States in 1979.
His family eventually was al
lowed to join him here.
Vins is a United States citizen
now, living in Elkhart, I ml.,
where he is a representative of
the persecuted church in the So
viet Union. He has established
the International Representation
for the Council of Evangelical
Baptist Churches of the Soviet
Union.
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