Radon: It is the leading environmental cause of cancer mortality.1

Are you or have you met someone who is a survivor of lung cancer but they don’t smoke? Could you be at risk for lung cancer even if you don’t smoke? If you do smoke AND have elevated levels of radon in your home did you know that your risk for lung cancer is exponentially higher? Learn more about radon in your home and reduce the risks of lung cancer.

Not long ago, just before the Christmas holiday, I met a woman from southwest Michigan. This woman was in good spirits, wearing a scarf on her head, helping her daughter make friendship bread in their kitchen. She lived in a nice home, built just a few years back, in a nice neighborhood. We engaged in some small talk as I was entering her home and setting up the radon testing equipment.

I learned that she did a lot of work out of her basement preparing sermons for church and raising her kids. She was an avid runner participating in marathons and jogging in the neighborhood on a daily basis. She didn’t catch me as a smoker or even someone who is exposed to second hand smoke, yet she was concerned about lung cancer and the radon levels in her home. I asked the usual questions about why they were having their home tested for radon. Are you selling your home? Are you going to run daycare from your home? Did your neighbors have their home tested?

I quickly learned that the scarf around her head was not to keep her hair out of her eyes while mixing the bread in the kitchen with her teenage daughter, but rather, a testament to the physical and emotional roller coaster she and her family have been through. She had received Months of chemotherapy wondering about the future of the holidays yet to come. All the while she had been asking herself - How? Why? Are my other family members at risk?

After testing her home and identifying elevated levels of radon, we helped answer the question of how. Why? I can give a scientific answer but I don’t think that was the answer she was seeking. And YES, her other family members are at risk. However, not everyone exposed to elevated levels of radon will get lung cancer. Your chances increase with the time spent in the home, the radon levels of the home, and other factors. After a properly installed radon mitigation system, the home was retested and the radon was found to be at significantly lower levels. (By the way, the woman referenced in this article is doing great and no other family members have been diagnosed with lung cancer to date.)

I am a life learner, a certified radon inspector, a homeowner, and a mom who in the course of my business has engaged in radon education and would like to share with you what I have learned about radon, the second leading cause of lung cancer2, contributing to tens of thousands of deaths annually that could be prevented.

Radon is a naturally occurring gas that you cannot smell, see, or taste. The Surgeon General, Environmental Protection Agency, World Health Organization, and other highly regarded institutions recognize radon as the second leading cause of lung cancer, second only to smoking. It has also been concluded that the effects of radon and cigarette smoking are synergistic - smokers are at higher risk from radon. An estimated 21,000 deaths per year are contributed to lung cancer caused by radon gas and the decay particles. In addition, The American Cancer Society has found that females are at a higher risk for lung cancer than males - of the 20,000 to 25,000 people that die of lung cancer that are non-smokers, 60% of them are women, that is, 1 in 5 women with lung cancer have never smoked.

There are no warning signs that you and your family could be at risk. Radon gases are emitted from the soil and can be drawn into your home like a vacuum, with negative pressure, pulling up air from the soil below your home. This air enters through the basement floor, cracks in the cement and walls, or air gaps between the construction joints as well as windows, doors, and vents. This becomes the air you breath.

As the radon gas breaks down or decays, it emits radioactive particles or radon decay products. As you breath, these radon decay products adhere to the lung tissue. Before your lungs exhale, the radon decay products further break down releasing radiation which can penetrate the lung tissue and the unprotected cells. If the cell dies that is ok. Your body can regenerate the cell. If the radiation hits the DNA within the cell’s nucleus the DNA is damaged and the cell loses its defense mechanism against cancer. It increases the potential of lung cancer and the defect can be passed on through your DNA.

You can prevent exposing you and your family to elevated levels in your home. The first step is to test your home. Testing your home is simple and relatively quick. You can find inexpensive radon test kits that you can do yourself or request the help of a professional. If elevated levels of radon are found in your home it is easy to correct by installing a radon mitigation system to change the ‘vacuum’ of the home. In essence you can change the force of the negative air pressure of the home by simply installing a vent pipe, usually with a fan, that is intended to pull the radon and soil gases through the vent pipe and up into the atmosphere.

A properly installed radon mitigation system not only minimizes the radon levels of the home it also minimizes other soil gases, odors, chemicals, and moisture that can be pulled into the lower level of the home. Many people will choose to install a radon reduction system for these reasons.

Many people will have their home tested for radon when they buy a home as part of the home inspection process. This is a good time to inspect the home for radon but should you stop here? Typically when higher radon levels are found a radon reduction system is installed. But, what if the levels in the home were considered low at the time of inspection? Or some time has passed and you have renovated or finished off a room in the lower level of the home? You may run, or not run, an exhaust fan (leave a window open, maintain your furnace or AC, run a dehumidifier, install new windows and doors, etc.) differently than the previous owner. Actions like these, as well as normal wear and tear or maintenance on a home, can change the air pressure and the ability of the home to exhaust the radon in the air. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends testing your home after any major renovation or every two years.

Like many illnesses, prevention can go a long way. Lung cancer is not only a concern for smokers. You and your family could be at risk in the comfort of your own home. The only way to know if you have elevated radon levels in your home is to test your home and when higher radon levels are found, have them minimized with a radon mitigation system.

Please visit www.michradon.com for FAQ and links to these sources as well as a link to the Michigan Map of Radon Zones. If you are a lung cancer survivor consider joining Cancer Survivors Against Radon (CanSAR) which helps educate others about the risks of radon at http://www.cansar.org/.