Grey Bruce Public Health is encouraging residents to test their homes for radon, as November is Radon Action Month.
Senior Public Health Manager Andrew Barton says that radon is a naturally occurring gas that forms from uranium in the soil as part of a natural process.
“Typically not a problem, but if it works its way into your house, and generally it’s basements and lower levels that are more of an issue, then that can be potentially a problem.”
Radon is also invisible and odourless, so the only way to know if it’s in your home is to test for it.
The safe level of radon in your home is less than 200 becquerels per cubic metre (200 Bq/m^3), and the lower the better.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, radon levels outdoors are usually very low (between 5 and 15 Bq/m3) since the radon gas is constantly diluted by fresh air.
This is why underground areas like basements tend to be the most affected, especially since there’s low ventilation.
He says that most homes will have radon levels that are below the ‘action’ level — a low level of the gas that isn’t linked with health issues.
If you do an at-home test and find that your home is above that concentration, the first thing to do is to circulate that air out of your home and make sure that any cracks in your foundation or basement are sealed.
High radon levels in your home don’t have any short-term effects, but rather a very serious long-term health issue: lung cancer.
Barton says “For non-smokers, it’s actually the leading cause of lung cancer. If you’re a smoker, it’s the second-leading, so it’s behind smoking.”
Not only that, but for regular smokers, exposure to high levels of radon increases their risk of developing lung cancer by 33%.
He adds that it’s important to test your home when there are fewer open windows to get a more accurate measure of radon levels, and it’s ideal to do it over a longer period of time in the winter.
For more information:
– The Canadian Lung Association
– The Canadian Cancer Society
– Where to Buy a Radon Testing Kit
