“Section IV: Reactions to the Fall 1990 Draft Guide and Changes Made in Response to
Comments

Recognizing the significance of the proposed changes in the Fall 1990 draft Guide, EPA took
direct steps to solicit input from the public, States, and other government agencies, and to carefully
weigh all comments in preparing the final version. EPA announced the availability of the draft Guide
in the Federal Register on September 24, 1990 and distributed 700-800 copies of the Guide and its
TSD for external review and comment. Although the comment period officially closed at the end of
October 1990, EPA continued to receive and accept comments well beyond that time and ultimately
received 143 individual comment letters totalling over 700 pages. Virtually all sectors were
represented by the comments, including 33 States, Congress, 14 Federal agencies, numerous medical
and building associations, universities, the real estate industry, the radon testing and mitigation
industry, and private citizens. A large fraction of the public comments centered on risk
communication issues.

The final revised Citizen's Guide attempts to strike a balance between what the risk
communication research indicates is necessary and additional information provided by public
commenters. The final Guide addresses the concerns of the commenters, without sacrificing all of
its persuasive strength. This section summarizes the major concerns expressed by commenters as they
relate to each of the six key findings and describes how these concerns were incorporated into the
final version of the Guide.3”