RADON: It's a danger, and Utahns are at risk
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Friday, December 28, 2007
It's the second leading cause of lung cancer, but most people are unaware that it can be right in their homes.
Radon gas, which cannot be smelled, seen or tasted, can be found at different levels in almost every home. It is when it reaches a certain level that it is considered dangerous.
Robert Parenti, president of the Utah Safety Council, said in Utah one out of three homes tested in 2007 had high radon levels, based on the results from test kits sold by the council.
January is "National Radon Action Month" and state officials are hoping more property owners will test their homes and businesses for the gas, which seeps into buildings from the ground.
If a structure tests positive for high radon levels, health officials recommend a second test be conducted to confirm the first one.
Those who live in the east benches along the Wasatch Front are more at risk of having high radon levels than those who live on the west side of the interstate, said Delane McGarvey, director of the Environmental Health Services Division of the Davis County Health Department.
"You have to get in the mountains where the decay of uranium rock turns into radon gas and seeps through the cracks of homes," McGarvey said.
January and February are the perfect months to test for radon because most people have their windows and doors shut all the time, McGarvey said.
In 2007, only two homeowners called Davis County Health Department to test for radon even though the county has offered the service for several decades, McGarvey said.
It does not matter if the home is old or new, Parenti said. Any home with a basement or crawl space, even those that are tightly sealed, can have high levels of radon.
Also, houses next to each other could have different levels of radon.
There are seven counties in Utah that are considered Zone One, which means they have some of the highest radon levels in the country.
The rest of Utah, including Top of Utah, is classified as Zone Two, which means moderate to high radon levels.
"Radon is six times heavier than oxygen or nitrogen and it sinks to the lower ground,"said David Neville, radon program manager with the Utah Division of Radiation Control. "It's generally found in basements, where we usually stick our kids to sleep."
The cost to fix homes to decrease radon is usually between $1,200 and $1,600, Neville said.
Homeowners considering selling their homes should have a radon test done because it is a good selling point to potential buyers, Neville said. Those buying a new home should request that a radon test be conducted.
The test kits sold by the safety council cost $12 and include a self-addressed envelope for the homeowner to send the sample to a lab to be analyzed, Parenti said.
Kits are also available at local hardware stores, but the cost sometimes does not include the lab fee, Parenti said.
The American Cancer Society estimates that 470 people will have died of lung cancer in 2007, said Scott Thompson, American Cancer Society communications manager. It is the leading cause of cancer death in Utah, followed by breast cancer and colon cancer.
Also in 2007, the American Cancer Society estimates that 600 new cases will have been diagnosed, Thompson said.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 people across the country will die each year from radon-related cancer, according to the Utah Safety Council.
About Radon
For more information on radon and how to buy radon test kits, go to www.utahsafetycouncil.org or call (800) 933-5943.
Also, call Davis County Health Department at 451-3296 or Weber-Morgan Health Department at 399-7160.
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