Date Published: 09/06/2007 [Source]
Buried in the piles of paperwork showered on California home buyers is a discussion of radon, a radioactive gas that causes lung cancer. But despite the scary description of this environmental hazard, very few home buyers in Silicon Valley ask for radon tests.
"Typically radon is not one of the tests that people choose to do," said Jeff Barnett, vice president with Alain Pinel Realtors in Los Gatos. The few clients who select a radon test from a list of optional inspections are generally people moving to the Bay Area from the East Coast, where radon testing is more common. "It's just a test people choose not to do because we haven't had a problem."