Editing Radon (section)

=== Medical ===

==== Hormesis ====
{{Main|Radioactive quackery}}
An early-20th-century form of [[quackery]] was the treatment of maladies in a [[radiotorium]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Clinique, Volume 34 |publisher=Illinois Homeopathic Medical Association |date=1913 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KM5XAAAAMAAJ&q=%2Bradiotorium&pg=PA243 |access-date=2011-06-30}}</ref> It was a small, sealed room for patients to be exposed to radon for its "medicinal effects". The carcinogenic nature of radon due to its ionizing radiation became apparent later. Radon's molecule-damaging radioactivity has been used to kill cancerous cells,<ref name="Radon seeds">{{cite web |title=Radon seeds |url=https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/brachytherapy/seeds.html |access-date=2009-05-05 |website=ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity}}</ref> but it does not increase the health of healthy cells.{{cn|date=October 2022}} The ionizing radiation causes the formation of [[free radicals]], which results in [[cell damage]], causing increased rates of illness, including [[cancer]].

Exposure to radon has been suggested to mitigate [[autoimmune disease]]s such as [[arthritis]] in a process known as [[radiation hormesis]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2143 |title=Radon Health Mines: Boulder and Basin, Montana |publisher= Roadside America |access-date=2007-12-04}}</ref><ref name="Hg">{{cite journal |author=Neda, T. |title=Radon concentration levels in dry CO<sub>2</sub> emanations from Harghita Băi, Romania, used for curative purposes |volume=277 |issue=3 |date=2008 |doi=10.1007/s10967-007-7169-0 |journal=[[Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry]] |page=685 |last2=Szakács |first2=A. |last3=Mócsy |first3=I. |last4=Cosma |first4=C.|bibcode=2008JRNC..277..685N |s2cid=97610571 }}</ref> As a result, in the late 20th century and early 21st century, "health mines" established in [[Basin, Montana]], attracted people seeking relief from health problems such as arthritis through limited exposure to radioactive mine water and radon. The practice is discouraged because of the well-documented ill effects of high doses of radiation on the body.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Salak |first1=Kara |last2=Nordeman |first2=Landon |title=59631: Mining for Miracles |journal=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |date=2004 |url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/feature7/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124233142/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0401/feature7/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2008 |access-date=2008-06-26}}</ref>

Radioactive water baths have been applied since 1906 in [[Jáchymov]], Czech Republic, but even before radon discovery they were used in [[Bad Gastein]], Austria. Radium-rich springs are also used in traditional Japanese [[onsen]] in [[Misasa, Tottori|Misasa]], [[Tottori Prefecture]]. Drinking therapy is applied in [[Bad Brambach]], Germany, and during the early 20th century, water from springs with radon in them was bottled and sold (this water had little to no radon in it by the time it got to consumers due to radon's short half-life).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-08-18 |title=For that Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation! |url=https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-08/healthy-glow-drink-radiation/ |access-date=2022-09-17 |website=Popular Science |language=en-US}}</ref> Inhalation therapy is carried out in [[Gasteiner-Heilstollen]], Austria; [[Świeradów-Zdrój]], [[Czerniawa-Zdrój]], [[Kowary]], [[Lądek-Zdrój]], Poland; [[Harghita Băi]], Romania; and [[Boulder, Montana]]. In the US and Europe, there are several "radon spas", where people sit for minutes or hours in a high-radon atmosphere, such as at [[Bad Schmiedeberg]], Germany.<ref name="Hg" /><ref>{{cite web |access-date=2008-06-26 |url=http://www.petros.cz/spa/spa_ja.asp |title=Jáchymov |publisher=Petros |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020107060646/http://www.petros.cz/spa/spa_ja.asp |archive-date=January 7, 2002 }}</ref>

==== Nuclear medicine ====
[[File:Radioactive Seeds (7845754328).jpg|thumb|{{sup|222}}Rn- and [[Iodine-125|{{sup|125}}I]]-containing seeds used in [[brachytherapy]]]]
Radon has been produced commercially for use in radiation therapy, but for the most part has been replaced by radionuclides made in [[particle accelerator]]s and [[nuclear reactor]]s. Radon has been used in implantable seeds, made of gold or glass, primarily used to treat cancers, known as [[brachytherapy]]. The gold seeds were produced by filling a long tube with radon pumped from a radium source, the tube being then divided into short sections by crimping and cutting. The gold layer keeps the radon within, and filters out the alpha and beta radiations, while allowing the [[gamma ray]]s to escape (which kill the diseased tissue). The activities might range from 0.05 to 5 millicuries per seed (2 to 200&nbsp;MBq).<ref name="Radon seeds" /> The gamma rays are produced by radon and the first short-lived elements of its decay chain (<sup>218</sup>Po, <sup>214</sup>Pb, <sup>214</sup>Bi, <sup>214</sup>Po).

After 11 half-lives (42 days), radon radioactivity is at 1/2,048 of its original level. At this stage, the predominant residual activity of the seed originates from the radon decay product <sup>210</sup>Pb, whose half-life (22.3 years) is 2,000 times that of radon and its descendants <sup>210</sup>Bi and <sup>210</sup>Po.{{cn|date=October 2022}}

<sup>211</sup>Rn can be used to generate <sup>211</sup>At, which has uses in [[targeted alpha therapy]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Crawford | first1=Jason R | last2=Kunz | first2=Peter | last3=Yang | first3=Hua | last4=Schaffer | first4=Paul | last5=Ruth | first5=Thomas J | title=<sup>211</sup>Rn/<sup>211</sup>At and <sup>209</sup>At production with intense mass separated Fr ion beams for preclinical <sup>211</sup>At-based α-therapy research | journal=Applied Radiation and Isotopes | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=122 | year=2017 | issn=0969-8043 | doi=10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.01.035 | pages=222–228| pmid=28189025 | bibcode=2017AppRI.122..222C }}</ref>