Date Published: 01/22/2020 [Source]
January is National Radon Action Month aimed at raising awareness about a silent killer that not many people know about.
"Radon is a substance that if you're not going and looking for it, you're not going to detect it," said Dr. Brian Kaminski, VP of quality and safety at ProMedica.
"So we do know that people that are exposed to higher than acceptable levels of radon are at higher risks for cancer, mainly lung cancer."
You can't see it, smell it or taste it, but it's the leading cause of lung cancer deaths among nonsmokers. The natural radioactive gas is the result of uranium decaying in the ground. That gas then seeps into homes through cracks and holes in the foundation.
"There might be little pockets here and there and that's where the radon decays and it filters up through the house," said Peter Mann, head estimator for Radon Environmental.
"We have a device that we set up and it sits there for at least 48 hours. It takes a reading every hour and at the end of 48 hours we have an average result because radon can fluctuate from hour to hour."
The EPA says there is no safe level of radon but anything above a 4.0 reading is considered extremely dangerous to health.
"So the whole idea here is prevention," Dr. Kaminski said. "The idea is that decrease your exposure to radon so that, over time, you don't expose yourself to those risks."