Another Odourless Gas to be Aware of in your Home
Carbon monoxide isn't the only odourless and colourless gas that can be found in homes. Protecting your health and that of your family is a matter of knowing what is harmful and how to reduce the risks.

If you have experienced headaches, runny nose, sneezing, coughing or difficulty breathing indoors but the symptoms abated when you went outside, you likely have pollutants in your home. Experiencing none of these symptoms is not a guarantee that your home is safe, however. Some of the worst hazards cause their damage long before you feel any effects.

One of these invisible hazards is radon, a radioactive gas. In 1992, the Surgeon General warned that radon was the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. br>
Radon in the home became a public concern in the mid-1980s. At a Christmas party in December 1984, Stanley Watras, an engineer at the Limerick Nuclear Plant in Pennsylvania, set off alarms - literally. When he entered the plant for the office party, alarms indicated the presence of radioactive contamination. They discovered he was bringing radiation into the plant. In the end, studies of his home indicated that radon levels were 800 times the acceptable levels within the nuclear plant. Unfortunately, the odds of developing lung cancer are 100 per cent for this unsuspecting homeowner.

Radon is both naturally-occurring and man-made. You can't feel it, smell it, or see it. This radioactive gas is created during nuclear energy production as well as being an emission from uranium in soil and rocks. Black shale, phosphatic rocks and granite tend to have higher than average concentrations. When uranium decays it gives off radiation and transforms into a series of elements, radon being one of them. Exposure to radon is known to cause cancer.

The good news is that it's possible to correct the problem in a home. Radon can be drawn into your home through dirt floors, cracks in concrete floors and walls, especially block walls, floor drains, or sump pumps. Radon is a gas that can move through tiny cracks and pores. When the air pressure inside your house is lower than the air pressure outside or underneath your home, radon can be drawn in. A common example of this is wood-burning stoves, which require a lot of air for combustion. As air is used for burning, the air pressure in the home decreases and radon can enter.

Water can also be a source of radon. The EPA estimates that 1,800 lung cancer deaths per year are caused by inhaling radon emitted by household water. The heaviest concentration of radon in water occurs in well water. In the treatment of municipal water supplies, much of the radon is released.

High Risk Regions
Scientists have combined their knowledge of locations of high uranium rock types (as above) with results from indoor radon testing to produce a list of areas in the United States and Canada most at risk. The highest radon levels occur in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Wyoming, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, Ontario and Quebec. Significant levels also occur in New Mexico, Kansas and Rhode Island.

Testing & Treating
The EPA recommends testing during the winter, if possible, when windows are shut and radon levels escalate. Check your local yellow pages for qualified inspectors in your area. Detectors may also available at certain hardware stores.

If radon is found in your home consult your branch of the Ministry of Environment (MOE) for a list of qualified contracts who can implement a radon reduction system. Foundations are often the biggest source of radon. The radon reduction system used will depend on the type of foundation you have, typically either a basement, a 'slab-on-grade' (concrete poured at ground level) or unfinished crawl space foundation. The most common reduction systems are sub-slab suction, drain tile suction, sump hole suction or block wall suction. The principle behind all these methods is to pull the dangerous gas away from your home and repair the points of entry.

Having completed a radon test and made any necessary repairs will not only ensure the health of you and your family, it can also be a selling point of your home. If you would like more information on radon, contact the MOE or check out the web site for the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air at: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/radon/pubs/consguid.html

Return to: Environment Issues

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