What's Up with Radon Gas, Your Home, & You?

by Lisa Cochran, from the October 2004 Newsletter

My home in southeast Moscow was built around 1948. As a first time homeowner, I was unaware of the potential radon danger that exists in our geologically active Pacific Northwest region. In fact, Latah County has some increased levels of this sinister natural by-product and radon gas can be found almost anywhere in varying concentrations in outdoor air, indoor air or even in ground water.

Radon is a radioactive gas that occurs naturally beneath the earth's surface, and forms when uranium decays. It rises through areas in the crust and topsoil and can vary widely in concentration both in the air and water. It gets into homes built on top of seeping areas that then contaminate home water and indoor air quality through loose-fitting pipes, cracks in foundation floors, basements or foundationless homes.

Lately, many public service ads run on television and the radio have brought public attention to radon gas and its potential health effects. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Surgeon General, the National Institute for Public Health, and several independent labs, radon gas is a very real national health problem. It is estimated that millions of homes are contaminated with it and the EPA has even suggested that radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer (smoking automatically amplifies the effects of radon on the lungs). Approximately 12% , or about 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year, are connected to this invisible, odorless and tasteless threat. As a result, the EPA and the Attorney General recommend testing and monitoring all homes for radon gas levels regardless of geological location and that any homes reading at unacceptable levels should be immediately repaired or worked on to decrease the problem.

Radon can be tested in your home using a simple air or water testing kit or having a technician do the testing with more sophisticated equipment. The unit measurements are at picoCuries per liter. Just because one house rates high doesn't necessarily mean that the one next door will rate the same. It is recommended that homes that rank in the moderate radon gas level range be tested at least every two years. Regardless of whatever the level that the EPA and the state you reside in lists as low, moderate or high health risk potential, you should be aware of all the information you need to further safeguard your family by doing your own research. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has an excellent guide, though any search engine can take you to plenty of knowledge on this area.

For more information on radon gas, how you can detect, measure and mitigate, contact the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) at PO Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH 42419 at 1-800-490-9198. For potential homebuyers or sellers, you can contact the consumer homebuyer's Web site at the Consumer Federation of America Foundation. Also, The Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon provides practical consumer information that every home buyer needs to know. Consumers need to know about the overall health factors of their home, including on whether there is a radon gas problem, and how to fix it.

In Idaho, contact Kara Stevens at the Indoor Environment Program, P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720-0036, or at (800) 445-8647. And although Whitman County is considered of moderate radon gas level potentials, much of Eastern Washington has high level potentials. The contact for that state is Mike Brennan at Radon Division of Radiation Protection, P.O. Box 4782, Olympia, WA 98504-7825, phone (360) 236-3253.

Fortunately, my radon gas level results came in at 1.2 as measured in my locally bought home-testing kit that sat for 48 hours in my daughter's bedroom, which I considered to be of most concern. Otherwise, I tend to keep air circulating throughout the house at most times to filter and purify contaminants found in the atmosphere of our dusty Palouse region through a forced air circulating and ionizing air cleaning system. Also, I filled in cracks in the basement foundation last year and will put a cover over the water overflow vent that sits in the middle of the basement floor. Then, I will retest with the hopes of bringing the levels down even more.

Lisa Cochran is a long-time Moscow resident.

Copyright: Copyright on articles and recipes are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective authors, except were otherwise noted.

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