National Radon Action Month — Take Action, Folks!

Life without change is death, unless you happen to be a brick, or a cloud, or an ice cube. Then…well, then change is death. It is, in this regard, that we consider the topic of air pollution within structures. Whether it be residential, commercial, municipal, or otherwise, air quality inside our fishbowls remains well disregarded.

You can’t see the air in your home, but it’s there…just like water in a fishbowl.

Enter radon and National Radon Action Month (see IEA or NRPP or Kansas State Seminar Video or EPA). When I was in middle school in East Tennessee many years ago (we still used compasses then to know we were east) I remember artwork in the hallways depicting radon as various incarnations of bad things, like a monster under a bed.

Known as the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, estimated as causing 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually, this classified carcinogen is a known bad apple. What’s lesser understood is that this danger ranks above second-hand smoke, which is listed as the third leading cause of lung cancer. Or, how about for non-smokers, the risk of lung cancer at the minimum actionable level for mitigation 4.0 pCi/L (the level at which the U.S.A. decided concentrations merit mitigation to reduce indoor levels) is equivalent – yes, I said equivalent – to the risk of dying in a car crash. If you smoke/smoked, that risk increases to 5 times the risk of dying in a car crash. All from a naturally occurring gas that originates from naturally occurring materials naturally present in our soils/geologies. See tables in this EPA consumer guide.

In our region, karst formations (think caves and limestone) directly affect radon concentrations — geology matters.

Now, in my multi-hat role as both a licensed home inspector in Tennessee, as well as a building consultant for consumers and builders, I’ve come to believe radon is an example of why indoor air quality (IAQ) is so important for our health and indoor environment quality (IEQ).

True story – in my immediate market there are builders, real estate professionals, governmental officials, and regular citizens that feel radon isn’t real or a risk. But these same people also know people who have died from vehicular accidents and the stats are similar. One is simply more tangible than the other. You know, with my own ears I once heard a well-respected engineer say there was “no such thing as radon.” The man believed in formulas and numbers he couldn’t see off paper, but felt radon was a conspiracy. There are many like him.

The data and science are clear – to date, there is no known safe level of long-term exposure to our radioactive gas friend, radon. With interior averages assumed to be around 1.3 pCi/L and exterior average concentrations assumed to be around 0.4 pCi/L, we can’t get away from it. Ever. But, there’s a difference between 1.3 pCi/L – where roughly 2 non-smokers out of 1,000 are assumed to get lung cancer from exposure – and 4.0 pCi/L where roughly 7 non-smokers out of 1,000 are assumed to get lung cancer from exposure. Those rates increase for smokers.

How comfortable are you with gambling…for your life?

Now, you may say 7 out of 1,000 isn’t bad. And, it’s not. But, if you flip the understanding of those odds to the lottery…we’d all play if our chances of winning were 7 out of 1,000 (average assumed odds are near 1 to 300 million for the lottery jackpots). By the way, flesh eating bacteria odds are set at 1 million to 1, but we seem a crap-ton more afraid of our flesh being eaten than lung cancer from radon. And, I look at my family – I wouldn’t want any one of them to leave my worldly experience sooner than needed (with pain and fear, to boot) because I chose to not care about what couldn’t be seen.

Final thoughts – know that radon is a scientifically testable and proven radioactive gas. Know it can be tested for and mitigated. Know that you should test where you live and try talking to your representatives about testing in municipal and school buildings where so many of our loved ones spend the majority of their days. Just do yourself a favor and hire the services of a nationally certified entity or your state department, if you have one. The links at the top of this page to IEA and NRPP can get you to necessary directories. Costs for testing depend on location of the country, test method, and level of trained professional. For those you love and for those who love you, test for what you can’t see. It’s there folks, you just don’t know how much of it is there unless you test.