Date Published: 01/25/2020 [Source]
You can't see it, smell it or taste it, but if you breath enough radon you might be one of the 21,000 people who die annually from radon-caused lung cancer.
That's why the Lapeer County Health Dept. is urging people to stop by its office on Imlay City Road in Lapeer Township and pick up a radon test kit.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas created by the natural decay of uranium and radium in the earth's crust. According to the state Dept. of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) one in four Michigan homes has a high level of radon gas.
Stoddard said exposure to high levels of radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer death in Lapeer County. Only smoking claims more people. He recommends doing a radon gas test in the winter, when homes are closed up and there's less air exchange with the outside.
So far this month, 10 people have stopped by the health department for a test kit and the rest of the year "a couple of people a month" pick one up.
According to an EGLE spokesman, nearly a third of all Lapeer County homes tested for radon are above the 4 picocuries per liter of air level that EPA considers safe.
A picocurie, said Stoddard, is one-trillionth of a curie, which is the standard unit of measurement for radiation.
In homes registering more than picocuries per liter of air EPA recommends installing a vapor mitigation system which is a series of pipes and a mitigation fan that exhausts vapors out of a house.
An EGLE spokesman said a typical mitigation system costs between $800 and $1,500.
Stoddard noted that a 10-year study of kit test results returned to the health department showed homes in Rich Township with a low of 1.7 picocuries and a high of 11.9 picocuries in Almont Township. Only five other townships showed test results under 4 picocuries, including Deerfield (2.4), Elba (2.6), Marathon (2.9) Mayfield (3.4) and North Branch (2.5).
Still, he added, test results can vary widely even in the same neighborhood, with a low score at one house and a high one at the house across the street. Among the factors that can affect radon test scores is the age and construction methods used in a home.
Newer more energy-efficient homes may hold more radon that older draftier homes. An EGLE spokesman said testing is recommended every two years because homes settle, new cracks form in the foundation, and radon levels can change.
Test kits are easy to use. You simply hang them 20 inches off the floor, a foot away from walls, three feet from the nearest window and away from vents in the homes lowest livable level. Residents can leave the test kit up for up to a week before they send it in for results.