Date Published: 01/24/2020 [Source]
January is National Radon Action Month.
The Green Mountain State is offering free radon test kits to help protect members of the public from the dangerous radioactive gas, according to the Vermont Department of Health.
"Testing is the only way to know whether your home has too much radon," Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said in a news release from the state agency.
Colorless and odorless, radon is caused by the natural breakdown of uranium in water, soil and rock, and it can cause lung cancer when it gets into the air and is inhaled, according to a guide to radon produced by federal agencies. Radon is present throughout the United States, the guide states. It can be found in high levels within homes of all ages, but the problem can be addressed, according to the Vermont health department.
"Unfortunately as the Radon Program in NH is just being reestablished after an absence of 7 years we did not have funding in place, to purchase test kits for this year's National Radon Action Month," Owen David, a radon specialist in the state program, said in an email Friday. "We hope to have test kits available in the fall of 2020 for New Hampshire residents."