About one of every three Americans will develop some form of malignancy during his or her lifetime. This year alone, about 1,437,000 new cases will be diagnosed, and more than 565,000 people will die of the disease. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in America, and as deaths from heart disease decline, it's poised to assume the dubious distinction of becoming our leading killer.

You don't have to be an international scientist to understand how you can try to protect yourself and your family.

The 10 commandments of cancer prevention are:

In this InFocus we update you on what’s happening in the radon community and on RadonLeaders.org.

Stakeholder Meetings: Connecting & Sharing Resources

There have been several radon stakeholder meetings this spring. We want to briefly update you on these meetings, and to share tools and resources that have come from them.

2009 National Radon Action Month Results Are In! Submit Your Feedback by May 4

The results for the 2009 National Radon Action Month are now available! Provide feedback about your involvement in the 2009 National Radon Action Month by May 4!

In an effort to reduce the number of lives lost to radon-induced lung cancer, state programs, radon professionals, schools, and partner organizations across the country worked together in 2009 to raise radon awareness. You reported a total of 1,874 events and activities – nearly two times higher than the number of submissions in 2008; and compared with 2007, more than eleven times higher. Wow!

Prior to the recent earthquake in Italy, scientist Giampaolo Giuliani warned an earthquake might be imminent based on a spike in radon emissions readings. For more coverage on this story see the links below:
• New York Times
• CNN
• NPR Science Friday

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.

The presentations from the 2008 National Healthy Homes Conference: Building a Framework for Healthy Housing are now available on line at www.hud.gov/offices/lead/NHHC/index.cfm.