Now that National Radon Action Month (NRAM) has come to a close, we are very eager to hear about your outreach and experiences in greater detail. We want you to Share Your Story from NRAM 2010, and sharing your story couldn’t be easier! Just visit www.radonleaders.org/nram/share and tell us about your experience. The stories we receive will be featured right here in the RadonLeaders.org InFocus. Stories may also appear on EPA's National Radon Action Month website and in outreach materials along with other success stories.

ORIGINAL POST

Reitz advances proposal to increase radon awareness

RANDOLPH COUNTY, IL -
Last week, state Rep. Dan Reitz (D-Steeleville) passed legislation through the House Environmental Health Committee to raise awareness of radon and increase reporting of radon between landlords and tenants.

House Bill 5224 would require a landlord to disclose to each tenant any information about any prior radon testing or mitigation. Furthermore, if a tenant chooses to have their unit tested for radon and hazardous levels are found to be present, they must inform the landlord within ten days of the results. The landlord would then be required to have mitigation performed on the unit or allow the tenant to terminate the lease.

ORIGINAL POST

Bill Field University researcher dedicates his life to improving public health.
Twenty-five years ago, doctors told Bill Field that he might never work again.

As a health physicist at the University of California, Berkley, he was exposed to dangerous fumes after an accident involving improperly disposed chemicals. Field was working to evacuate the affected area of campus when he was exposed, and was left with severe eye and nerve damage. He spent several years recovering while on social security disability benefits.

HB 5224 was voted out of the Environmental Health Committee February 25, 2010 by a vote of 013-000-000.

The bill is now scheduled for second reading and short debate in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Details of the bill can be seen by entering hb5224 in the bill search box at http://www.ilga.gov/.

ORIGINAL POST

Gail Dobbs was diagnosed with lung cancer last year.

She didn’t smoke, and she didn’t have a family history of lung cancer.

What she had was prolonged exposure to high levels of the radioactive gas radon. It’s likely that thousands of other Georgians are being exposed, too.

“When you first get the diagnosis, it’s shocking,” said Dobbs, who is 59 and has lived in her Monroe home for 30 years. “You think ... where could it possibly come from?”

Radon is an invisible and odorless gas that breaks down from uranium, granite, shale and phosphate and seeps into soil and water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it’s the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers and causes up to 14 percent of all lung cancer deaths each year in the U.S. That’s about 22,000 people. Georgia leads the Southeast, according to the EPA, with an average of 822 deaths yearly.

Legislation that will help reduce the risk of radon exposure for home buyers passed the Oregon Senate on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 1025 moved to the House on a 24-6 vote. It requires both radon-resistant construction standards for new homes and public buildings in areas with higher radon levels and notification for all home buyers about the health risks associated with radon.

Read the Chicago Sun-Times article.

For more information on CanSAR please visit www.CanSAR.org

Q: My wife says I should be concerned about radon in our house. What kind of test should we use, and how often?

A: Radon, a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas, enters a home through cracks in the foundation, holes or cavities around pipes, through floor drains or sump pump openings.

Breathing it in creates no immediate symptoms, but over time, it can cause lung cancer and will significantly increase the risk of lung cancer among smokers who are also exposed to radon. More than 20,000 people will die this year after breathing too much radon without knowing it.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers offers the following tips to protect from radon exposure.

•The only way to figure out if your home has high levels of radon is to perform a test. There are two types of tests: short- and long-term.

Central Kentucky’s karstlands have long been a healthy source of tourism dollars, but that same topography carries increased health risks from radon gas, the leading source of lung cancer for nonsmokers. Health experts now say that radon risk has been shown to be more serious than previously believed and are strongly recommending that property owners here test for it.

An estimated 14 percent of lung cancer cases are attributable to exposure to radon gas, according to new findings by the World Health Organization. In the U.S. alone, the Environmental Protection Agency says that 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year can be attributed to radon.