Are you careful to manage smoking and secondary smoke in your home? According to the EPA and other health organizations, Radon is another hazard you should be concerned about.Smoking, radon, and secondhand smoke are the leading causes of lung cancer. Although lung cancer can be treated, the survival rate is one of the lowest for those with cancer. From the time of diagnosis, between 11 and 15 percent of those afflicted will live beyond five years, depending upon demographic factors. In many cases lung cancer can be prevented; this is especially true for radon.
Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, according to EPA estimates. Overall, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked. On January 13, 2005, Dr. Richard H. Carmona, the U.S. Surgeon General, issued a national health advisory on radon.
Studies Find Direct Evidence Linking Radon in Homes to Lung Cancer - Two studies show definitive evidence of an association between residential radon exposure and lung cancer. Two studies, a North American study and a European study, both combined data from several previous residential studies. These two studies go a step beyond earlier findings. They confirm the radon health risks predicted by occupational studies of underground miner’s who breathed radon for a period of years.
Early in the debate about radon-related risks, some researchers questioned whether occupational studies could be used to calculate risks from exposure to radon in the home environment. “These findings effectively end any doubts about the risks to Americans of having radon in their homes,” said Tom Kelly, Director of EPA’s Indoor Environments Division. “We know that radon is a carcinogen. This research confirms that breathing low levels of radon can lead to lung cancer.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) says radon causes up to 15% of lung cancers worldwide. In an effort to reduce the rate of lung cancer around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an international radon project to help countries increase awareness, collect data and encourage action to reduce radon-related risks. The U.S. EPA is one of several government agencies and countries supporting this initiative and is encouraged by WHO’s attention to this important public health issue. "Radon poses an easily reducible health risk to populations all over the world, but has not up to now received widespread attention," said Dr. Michael Repacholi, coordinator of WHO’s Radiation and Environmental Health Unit.
Radon is a Radioactive Gas
For centuries, people have been exposed to radon gas without knowing it and without linking it to radon or reporting any adverse health problems caused by it. Radon gas in our environment comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soil, rocks, and water. Outdoors it present little or no health risk as it diffuses into the air. It's indoor, trapped concentrations of radon gas that present the potential dangers. The USEPA action level for indoor radon levels is 4.0 pico curies per liter of air (pCi/L).
Radon is a radioactive element that is part of the radioactive decay chain of naturally occurring uranium in soil. You can’t see radon. You can’t smell radon and you can’t taste radon. Unlike carbon monoxide and many other home pollutants, radon's adverse health effect, lung cancer, is usually not produced immediately. Thus you may be exposed to radon for many years without ever suspecting its presence in your home.
The problem with radon comes from its radioactive decay products, called daughters, that emit high levels of alpha radiation and are not chemically inert. This allows them to attach themselves to tobacco smoke and dust particles in the air. When inhaled, these smoke and dust particles can lodge in the respiratory system where they subject the lung tissue to radiation. Radon daughters have relatively short half-lives, so that after being deposited in the lung, they will successively go through their radioactive decay in an hour or less. Currently, there are no reported instances of radon-related problems traced to a short-term exposure period.
You Should Test for Radon
While scientists can estimate the approximate lung cancer deaths per 1000 people, no single individual's risk can be estimated. Testing is relatively inexpensive, easy and is the only way to know whether you are at risk.
Testing for radon is normally done using self testing kits or electronic radon monitors. Inexpensive passive test kits are available for use in residences. Approved test kits must have passed the EPA’s testing program or be state-certified. Some of these tests measure radon levels over two to three days; others measure it over one to three months. Professional testers may use a method of active sampling that involves the use of a membrane filter and a battery-operated air pump to collect particulate matter to which the radon daughters are attached. After a predetermined time has elapsed, an alpha-particle detector is used to measure the radon level in pico curies per liter (pCi/L). This value is then converted and reported as working levels.