By : Radon Gas
Radon made headlines in the 1980s, after this invisible, odorless, cancer-causing gas was found at dangerous levels in ordinary homes across the nation.
In reaction, the U.S. Epa and the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services began educating the general public and writing regulations covering permissible radon levels, radon testing and licensing of radon-control specialists.
Today you can find do-it-yourself radon-testing kits on store shelves. Schools and hospitals must be monitored for radon, and a radon-awareness statement must be signed by every buyer.Although the alarm of the '80s seems to have passed, does radon still pose a threat inside your Florida home? Can you test for it? For those who have it, are you able to eliminate it? What are the health problems?
Radon gas is as natural as the air we breathe. A radioactive product from the breakdown of uranium and radium, the gas is present in soil and rock and leaches in to the air. In Florida, it often is found in areas rich in phosphate because more uranium is present in phosphate ore than in normal soil.
Radon becomes dangerous only when it accumulates within an enclosed space. It gets into a house through tiny cracks in the slab, joints in block walls and gaps around pipes. Additionally, it can collect in a crawl space and seep through the floor.
Modern homes, built to be weather-tight, can act as radon traps. With doors and windows tightly sealed, radon can collect in mid-air.
Radon that is inhaled continues its radioactive decay within the lungs. EPA studies of miners show that long-term exposure to radon causes lung cancer. The Surgeon General claims that radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking, in the United States. The gas is not recognized to cause any other health problems.In case your home has elevated radon levels, your lifestyle can impact your risk:
Smoking coupled with radon exposure greatly boosts the risk of lung cancer.
More time spent in your own home increases contact with radon.Just how long you live in the home is another factor because radon's effects are cumulative.
Sleeping in a basement increases exposure because radon concentrates in lower levels of a home.
Florida's hot spots
The state has identified 18 counties with the possibility of high radon levels. They stretch roughly from Columbia, on the northern border, through Alachua and south through the western half of the state to Lee County. Leon County in the northern Panhandle and Dade County in South Florida also are listed.
Though radon has been found here, no Central Florida counties are thought high-risk. However, the nearby counties of Marion, Sumter and Polk are listed.
Keep in mind that radon levels can vary significantly inside a county, and even from house to house.
Testing for radon
Radon test kits are available at hardware and discount stores for do-it-yourself testing. The package must state: ''Meets EPA Requirements.'' A short-term test can give you a quick - though rough - indication of whether you need to do further testing.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Radon: The silent killer in your home
By : Radon Mitigation
Cigarettes in a home is easy to detect as it drifts with the air or leaves its odor in clothes or furniture. Its health toll is equally as obvious because the leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.
Less obvious and almost as deadly is radon, an odorless gas that causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. and the leading reason for lung cancer in non-smokers. It is a bigger concern during cold winters like the one we've just experienced when radon levels sky rocket in well-sealed homes.
The odorless gas is because natural introduction to uranium in soil and water and seeps into homes through drains and cracks within the foundation. While radon is natural in the air, levels could be unhealthy when it's trapped inside a house.
In the U.S. 1 in 15 homes have unsafe radon levels, based on the Epa website.
While the EPA website has a map of zones in the U.S. showing areas that may have higher radon levels, Janice Nolen, assistant vice president at the American Lung Association, said people cannot assume they do not have a radon problem.
"We've had cases where the house next store was fine but the next one over were built with a problem with radon," Nolen said. "Across the country in every single state there have been cases of houses with high radon levels."
Now a push for more radon awareness is coming from the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment, an affiliation of groups set on improving children's environmental health. Their bond hopes radon home testing becomes as fashionable as the fire alarm and carbon monoxide alarm precautions people take in their homes.
Erica Phipps, the group's executive director, said radon does not receive much public awareness, but it should.
"When you look at the lung cancer statistics and the role radon plays it's astounding," Phipps said.
Nolen said tests are as easy as going to a home improvement store and buying an at-home kit for between $10 and $20. The monitor remains on a low level shelf close to the floor for anywhere from 24 hours to a week and than sent off for the levels to be checked.
If radon levels are full of a home the EPA website includes a state-by-state help guide to finding contractors that deal with radon. The EPA also offers a handbook for reducing radon, with fixes varying from extraction pipes below the the place to find since the floor of crawl spaces with high density plastic and using fans to draw the radon out and vent it outside.
"This is a concern you can now have," Nolen said. "Radon levels can be fixed, it's just an issue of identifying the issue and getting it looked after."
The EPA lists the next ways that radon could possibly get into buildings:
• Cracks in solid floors and walls
• Construction joints
• Gaps in suspended floors
• Gaps around service pipes
• Cavities inside walls
•The water supply
Cigarettes in a home is easy to detect as it drifts with the air or leaves its odor in clothes or furniture. Its health toll is equally as obvious because the leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.
Less obvious and almost as deadly is radon, an odorless gas that causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. and the leading reason for lung cancer in non-smokers. It is a bigger concern during cold winters like the one we've just experienced when radon levels sky rocket in well-sealed homes.
The odorless gas is because natural introduction to uranium in soil and water and seeps into homes through drains and cracks within the foundation. While radon is natural in the air, levels could be unhealthy when it's trapped inside a house.
In the U.S. 1 in 15 homes have unsafe radon levels, based on the Epa website.
While the EPA website has a map of zones in the U.S. showing areas that may have higher radon levels, Janice Nolen, assistant vice president at the American Lung Association, said people cannot assume they do not have a radon problem.
"We've had cases where the house next store was fine but the next one over were built with a problem with radon," Nolen said. "Across the country in every single state there have been cases of houses with high radon levels."
Now a push for more radon awareness is coming from the Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment, an affiliation of groups set on improving children's environmental health. Their bond hopes radon home testing becomes as fashionable as the fire alarm and carbon monoxide alarm precautions people take in their homes.
Erica Phipps, the group's executive director, said radon does not receive much public awareness, but it should.
"When you look at the lung cancer statistics and the role radon plays it's astounding," Phipps said.
Nolen said tests are as easy as going to a home improvement store and buying an at-home kit for between $10 and $20. The monitor remains on a low level shelf close to the floor for anywhere from 24 hours to a week and than sent off for the levels to be checked.
If radon levels are full of a home the EPA website includes a state-by-state help guide to finding contractors that deal with radon. The EPA also offers a handbook for reducing radon, with fixes varying from extraction pipes below the the place to find since the floor of crawl spaces with high density plastic and using fans to draw the radon out and vent it outside.
"This is a concern you can now have," Nolen said. "Radon levels can be fixed, it's just an issue of identifying the issue and getting it looked after."
The EPA lists the next ways that radon could possibly get into buildings:
• Cracks in solid floors and walls
• Construction joints
• Gaps in suspended floors
• Gaps around service pipes
• Cavities inside walls
•The water supply
What is radon?
Posted by : Radon Mitigation System
Radon exists outdoors and indoors. It's normally available at very low levels in outdoor air and in drinking water from rivers and lakes. It can be available at higher levels in the air in houses along with other buildings, as well as in water from underground sources, such as well water.
Radon stops working (decays) into solid radioactive elements called radon progeny (such as polonium-218, polonium-214, and lead-214). Radon progeny can affix to dust along with other particles and can be breathed into the lungs. As radon and radon progeny in the air break down, they provide a alpha particles, a form of high-energy radiation that can damage the DNA inside the body's cells.How are people subjected to radon?Both at home and in other buildings
For both adults and children, most exposure to radon comes from being indoors in homes, commercial complexes, schools, and other places. The levels of radon in homes and other buildings depend on the characteristics of the rock and soil in the region. Consequently, radon levels vary greatly in different parts of the United States, even within neighborhoods. Elevated radon levels have been discovered in every state.
The radon gas radiated by soil or rock can enter buildings through cracks in floors or walls; construction joints; or gaps in foundations around pipes, wires, or pumps. Radon levels are often highest in the basement or crawl space. This level is closest to the soil or rock that is the source of the radon. Therefore, people who spend a lot of their amount of time in basement rooms both at home and at the office have a greater risk for being exposed.
Small quantities of radon may also be released from your water supply into the air, especially if the water source is underground. As the radon moves from the water to air, it can be inhaled. Water that comes from deep, underground wells in rock may have higher levels of radon, whereas surface water (utilized by lakes or rivers) normally has very low radon levels. For the most part, water does not contribute much to overall exposure to radon.
Radon exposure also occurs from some building materials if they're made from radon-containing substances. Almost any building material made from natural substances, including concrete and wallboard, may give off some level of radon. In most cases these levels are very low, but in a few instances these materials may contribute significantly to radon exposure.
Some granite countertops may expose people to different levels of radon. Most health and radiation experts agree that while a small portion of granite countertops may give off increased levels of radon, most countertops give off extremely lower levels. People worried about radon from countertops and from other household sources can test these levels using home detection kits or by hiring a professional to do the testing (begin to see the section "How can I avoid exposure to radon?" below).
Radon levels in the air are measured by units of radioactivity per volume of air. The most common measure used is picocuries per liter (pCi/L). According to the US Epa (EPA), the typical indoor radon level is about 1.3 pCi/L. People should take action to lower radon levels in your home if the level is 4.0 pCi/L or higher. The EPA estimates that nearly 1 out of every 15 homes in the United States may have elevated radon levels.
Outdoors, radon generally disperses and does not reach high levels. Average levels of radon outdoors, according to the EPA, are about 0.4 pCi/L.
At certain jobs
In the workplace, people working underground, such as some types of miners, are among the most likely to be subjected to high levels of radon. High death rates from lung problems among miners in some parts of the world were first noted hundreds of years ago, long before people knew what radon was. Studies of radon-exposed miners during the 1950s and 1960s confirmed the hyperlink between radon exposure and cancer of the lung.
Higher levels of radon exposure are also more likely for people who work in uranium processing factories or who come in contact with phosphate fertilizers, which may have high levels of radium (an element that may break up into radon).
Does radon cause cancer?
Long-term exposure to radon can lead to lung cancer. Radon gas in the air stops working to other radioactive elements (radon progeny). Radon progeny are tiny radioactive particles that can lodge in the lining of the lungs, where they continue to break down into other radioactive elements by releasing radiation. The radiation released in this “radioactive decay” process can damage lung cells and eventually lead to lung cancer.
Cigarette smoking is by far the most common cause of lung cancer in the United States, but radon is the second leading cause. Scientists estimate that about 20,000 cancer of the lung deaths per year are based on radon.
Contact with the combination of radon gas and cigarette smoke creates a and the higher chances for lung cancer than either factor alone. Most radon-related lung cancers occur among smokers. However, radon can also be thought to cause a significant number of lung cancer deaths among non-smokers in the United States each year.
Some research has suggested that radon exposure may be associated with other types of cancer as well. But the evidence for such links has been inconsistent and not nearly as strong as it is for lung cancer. Because radon and its progeny are absorbed mainly by inhaling, and since the alpha particles they provide a travel only a short distance, it is unlikely they'd affect other tissues in your body.
The evidence that radon causes cancer of the lung comes from studies in people and studies done in the lab.
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