Date Published: 01/15/2020 [Source]
According to the U.S. Surgeon General, radon is the leading cause of cancer among nonsmokers in the U.S., killing over 20,000 Americans annually.
The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States today. Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths. If you smoke and your home has high radon levels, your risk of lung cancer is especially high.
Arizona Foundation Solutions explains that radon comes from the natural (radioactive) breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water and gets into the air you breathe. Radon can be found all over the U.S. It can get into any type of building — homes, offices, and schools — and result in a high indoor radon level.
Radon can enter a home through cracks in the foundation floor and walls, through basement floor drains, and through sump openings. Homes with dirt crawl spaces have increased radon exposure levels. However, even houses with a seemingly tight concrete foundation can have high radon levels.
We cannot smell, taste, see, touch, or hear radon. Thus, it easily goes unnoticed. When this happens, everyone in the home becomes susceptible to contracting lung cancer.
Radon is measured in picocuries per liter (pCi/L). A picocurie is one-trillionth of a curie (which is the amount of radioactivity emitted by one gram of radium). The Environmental Protection Agency has established mitigation guidelines that recommend mitigation at levels above 4 pCi/L while the World Health Organization has established remediation guidelines at 2 pCi/L. Radon levels of 4 pCi/L is equal to smoking 8 cigarettes a day. The U.S. Surgeon General has recommended that every home in the United States be tested for radon.