Radon risk at highest in winter months

by Chris Sparling (Subscribe to Chris Sparling's posts)
Jan 2nd 2008 3:26PM

Categories: Healthy Home, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness

The forecasted high temperature for tomorrow is 17 degrees where I live. Let me say that again, the forecasted HIGH temperature for tomorrow is 17 degrees. Here in New England, this isn't entirely uncommon for this time of year, but it is certainly a sign that those extra couple of weeks of warm weather we experienced back on October won't be returning any time soon. That also means that we have to be mindful of such known dangers as frostbite and exposure. However, the winter months bring with them an added risk, one that we are not always as quick to take into account.

With our doors and windows closed, most homes have less ventilation than they may during warmer months. As a result, if a home contains high levels of radon, this cancer-causing, airborne gas may get trapped within the walls of your home.

One of the greatest dangers of radon is that it is virtually undetectable; it can't be seen, smelled or tasted. The best way to test your home's radon level is by purchasing a special test kit or by hiring a professional to perform the measurement. Not only is it inexpensive to test for radon, it is also well worth the investment. Each year, more than 21,000 people die from lung cancer related to radon exposure.

For more information, visit www.epa.gov/iaq/radon

Source

Comments (10)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lynne Eldridge M.D. 1-03-2008 @ 1:10AM

Thank you Chris for bringing up this very real concern!

Radon is currently the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers, and should be entirely preventable through testing homes. Test kits can be purchased at most hardware stores, and if levels are abnormal the EPA, and many state health departments can provide help on what to do next. There is even a hotline 1-800-SOS-RADON people can call for advice.

Thanks again for addressing radon in our homes. We hear so much about the HPV vaccine, and whether or not it should be mandated, yet over 5 times as many people die from lung cancer from radon in their homes each year, as those who die from HPV related cancers. And, testing homes for radon has no side effects, or controversy!
Lynne Eldridge MD
Author, "Avoiding Cancer One Day At A Time"
www.avoidcancernow.com

David 1-08-2008 @ 12:52AM

Unfortunately, several public health studies have compared non-tobacco related lung cancer rates in low-radon communities to those in high-radon communities. In most cases, the death rate was lower in communities with higher radon exposure. We are extrapolating theoretically predicted deaths based on known death rates from high radiation exposure, and ignoring public health data that suggests low radon doses might be much less harmful than predicted, or even might induce DNA repair activity, thus reducing lung damage from free radicals or other cancer inducers. Hysteria sells books, but sound science is much less exciting.

David Foster, MD

William Ernest Schenewerk 1-05-2008 @ 2:33PM

Radon Gas Paranoia. This is called what goes around comes around. Organized labor and the very-far-left have exploited fear of radiation for 3 decades so we will continue to breathe dirty air. This is all based on LNT. LNT is impossible to prove for radiation doses below 1/10 LD/50.
In the case of indoor radon, LNT leads to the belief that secondhand smoke is good for you. Secondhand smoke glombs up radon daughters before they stick in the lung. LNT combined with EPA secondhand smoke modeling indicates that secondhand smoke reduces radon gas exposure by 20%. LNT indicates radon gas kills 10,000 persons/year in the USA, of which 3000/year are never-smokers. So secondhand smoke will save 600/year neversmokers from radon gas.
Does all this sound like rubbish? I hope so. If LNT were true, lung cancer in neversmokers would be higher in the Northeast where everyone has a basement. Also leukemia would increase with frequent-flyer miles. All this is fear-mongering. Winners are the very-far-left and organized labor. Organized labor hates nukes because they go two years without refueling. Nukes are nearly strike-proof, just like oil refineries.

annie 1-05-2008 @ 4:10PM

wow william, that is an incoherent rant if i ever heard one.

in this day and age of toxin filled air, if one thing doesnt kill you, something else will.

Robert 1-05-2008 @ 8:18PM

William are the oil companies the far left or organized labor in your comment. They fund most of the anti nuclear protests and helped keep the story of radon's discovery out of most press. Radon was discovered because a nuke plant worker had higher radiation levels when he got to work than after working in the reactor building. Cheap electric would make electric cars common.

Useless News 1-05-2008 @ 8:20PM

Why test for radon? If you do, and find "unacceptable" levels of it in your home, what options do you have? To move out? Or should we open our windows in winter to let in frigid air laden with vehicle exhaust fumes, instead? Motivate me.

Lori 1-07-2008 @ 9:18PM

YOU DON'T NEED TO MOVE! A variety of methods can be used to reduce radon in homes. In most cases, venting systems with pipes and fans are used to reduce radon. Such systems are called "sub-slab depressurization." These systems prevent radon gas from entering the home from below the concrete floor and the foundation. Similar systems can also be installed in homes with crawl spaces.

Radon reduction contractors may use other methods that may also work in your home, depending on its design and other factors. Contact certified radon mitigators in your area. Costs for services vary. The average cost for a contractor to lower radon levels in a home is about $1,200, although this can range from $900 to about $2,500.

P.S. Radon is not an issue for anyone living above the 3rd floor in an apartment building.

SOURCE: http://www.hennepin.us/portal/site/HCInternet/menuitem.f25c437125254e89710ece04b1466498/?vgnextoid=13e306640bafc010VgnVCM1000000f094689RCRD

Carol 1-07-2008 @ 9:42PM

I lived in Boyertown, and the guy who worked at Limerick Power Plant and initiated the radon scare is the guy who now does the mandatory radon testing when a home is sold. He did the test on my home, and the radon level was high and needed to be remediated before I could close on my house - even though I lived there 14 years myself.

I'd like to say my health was fine in that house, but it was not, and I still suffer today. Unfortunately, I'm reluctant to blame it exclusively on radon, though I'm sure it helped, because I'm now suffering from severe microwave sickness (electrosensitivity, radiation poisoning) - and I think the cell phone and wifi boom is the real culprit.

If you lived in Germany or the UK, you'd be hearing more about this emerging health problem, but American telecommunications has been pretty clever at keeping the Bioinitiative Report hush-hush:

http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/index.htm

Personally, I'd worry more about where your local cell phone tower is beamed and whether you have wifi in your area.

Krista 1-08-2008 @ 1:04AM

I normally don't respond to this kind of stuff, but I just have to say if 21,000 people are dying a year because of this related cancer and then that many people are dying because of something else and so on and so on, wouldn't the worlds population be ending soon? I get so annoyed hearing about all these people dying every year because of this and that and the other thing too. Youll die of lung cancer from smoking, youll die from this youll die from that, shouldnt we all be dead by now? Yet the world is still overpopulated. I think Ill take my chances and smoke my ciggys, drive my car, eat my fast food and live a happy life not worrying about when Im gonna die and who's gonna die from what because if that's all I did then Id never have time for anything else. This is horse crap i say!

JUDY 1-08-2008 @ 5:41PM

Krista. I agree. With all these stats they hand out EVERYONE should have dropped dead a long time ago.
My jeep should have killed at whole lot of people off this last year. I too should have kicked off years ago, am 63 and have driven a car before ethonal,leaded gas, no catalytic convertor, asbestos brake shoes,asbestos wrapped around the water heater,coal burniong stoves,ciggys,lipstick with active ingrediants,leaded paint, andon and on. Makes me wonder how my mother lived to 98 and all of her family? They ate raw hamburger YUK! Drank unpasterized milk,real butter,fried foods.