Scientists from state environmental and public health organizations and the University of Maine will present research on water quality issues at a private well symposium next month in Connecticut.

John Peckenham, director of the Maine Water Resources Research Institute at the University of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell Center, will talk about analyzing contaminants in private drinking water wells in Maine.

Peckenham said state and federal governments have standards for drinking water quality, but there are few laws requiring people to test their wells.

The Kennebec Journal reported this month that the number of people in Maine who test their wells has improved since 2004, when only about 26 percent of Maine households reported knowing whether they had tested their wells. That number increased to more than 40 percent in 2009 after the state amped up its efforts to inform people, according to Andy Smith, state toxicologist.

South Carolina State University 1890 Research & Extension is offering free water testing to evaluate radon levels in wells of families and businesses in the Midlands and Lowcountry regions. Testing will specifically target communities along the Edisto River Basin, which spans from the counties of Saluda to Charleston and Barnwell to Clarendon.

Radon, a toxic gas, produces naturally in the earth, often accumulates in well water, and is often present in the indoor air of homes, buildings and other structures.

The service is being funding through the 1890 Research Program as part of a study to investigate the radioactivity levels of radioactive contaminants found in groundwater. Typically groundwater is the primary source of water supply for families and businesses.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 5, 2011) − Boyle County homeowners who participated in a University of Kentucky College of Nursing radon study earlier this year were recently recognized at a reception hosted by UK's Radon Policy Research Program. The purpose of the reception was to recognize the recipients of the free home mitigation systems and to provide all the study participants with additional information on radon and the mitigation process.

The "Test and Win" study involved recruiting Boyle County homeowners who were interested in testing their homes for radon, an odorless, colorless, naturally occurring, radioactive gas that is known to cause lung cancer in humans. Eligible participants completed an online survey, received free radon test kits, tested their homes for radon and returned the test kits for analysis.

Millions of households across England and Wales can now access details about radon measurements in their area, in a new HPA report.

For many years the Health Protection Agency's radon team has been gathering and publishing data on indoor concentrations of the gas across the UK.

The new report, published here brings together thousands of measurements made by the Agency in England and Wales and presents summaries by postcode and by council area. The new work has allowed scientists to calculate that between 100,000 and 200,000 homes across England and Wales are above the radon Action Level; the threshold at which HPA recommends that radon should be reduced.

Radon is a naturally occurring odourless, colourless, radioactive gas and is the second largest cause of lung cancer in the UK.

CSUN community members now have the opportunity to learn about cancer through a class taught by a CSUN professor.

Dr. Steven Oppenheimer will teach “Biology of Cancer” every Monday during the Fall semester from 5 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., in Eucalyptus Hall 2132.

“There’s a tremendous importance for public awareness about cancer,” Oppenheimer said. “The topic of radon is especially relevant for cancer prevention. Everyone should test their homes for radon.”

Oppenheimer said some homes in the U.S. have so much radon, a colorless, odorless, tasteless radioactive gas, that it is estimated in posing a cancer risk equivalent to smoking 50 packs of cigarettes a day.

Alexander Tishbi, a radon expert for Indoor Safety, Inc.will present in Oppenheimer’s class on Nov. 29 and will discuss the hidden dangers of radon throughout U.S. households.

Oppenheimer said CSUN students can register for his class and if space permits, the public audit the class.

Lung cancer deaths from indoor radon and the cost effectiveness and potential of policies to reduce them

Alastair Gray, professor of health economics, Simon Read, analyst and programmer, Paul McGale, statistician, Sarah Darby, professor of medical statistics

1 Health Economics Research Centre, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, 2 Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, University of Oxford

Correspondence to: A Gray alastair.gray@dphpc.ox.ac.uk

Full Published Article: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/338/jan06_1/a3110

Objective
To determine the number of deaths from lung cancer related to radon in the home and to explore the cost effectiveness of alternative policies to control indoor radon and their potential to reduce lung cancer mortality.

Design
Cost effectiveness analysis.