This past March, Portland grocers found themselves in an unlikely scenario: There was a run on sea kelp. Locations like the New Seasons Market on Hawthorne were soon completely out, and a little sign promised that more would be ordered. Why had this happened? The answer was global. Portlanders were wondering if they would need the kelp—a natural source of iodine—to block the radioactive iodine spewing from the Fukushima reactors after the devastating earthquake and tsunamis hit Japan.

In the Nuclear Age, there is nothing like radioactivity to grab our attention. It is the ultimate hot topic. So could this be a good time to remind everyone of another threat —not from the sky—but from uranium decaying in the ground? Could this be the time to revisit the subject of radon gas?

Your home could pose a threat to your health without you even knowing it.

Radon is estimated to cause thousands of lung cancer deaths in the U.S. each year.

A potential killer could be lurking in your home.

Kevin Siers, Radon Mitigation Contractor says, "that's the bad thing about radon. There are no warning signals."

Siers tests for the radio-active gas in homes around the Mid-Ohio Valley.

He says, "radon is a gas that comes from decaying uranium under the soil."

Most people only test when buying or selling a home, but the Environmental Protection Agency suggests otherwise.

Siers adds, "we all should get our homes tested for radon every 2 years as the EPA suggests."

Testing is simple: It takes anywhere from two to 90 days. The contractor simply comes to your home, sets up the radon detector, and comes back for the results.