Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas. You can't see radon. And you can't smell it or taste it. But it may be a problem in your home.Radon is estimated to cause many thousands of deaths each year. That's because when you breathe air containing radon, you can get lung cancer. In fact, the Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States today. Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths. If you smoke and your home has high radon levels, your risk of lung cancer is especially high. Radon can be found all over the U.S. Radon comes from the natural (radioactive) breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water and gets into the air you breathe. Radon can be found all over the U.S. It can get into any type of building - homes, offices, and schools - and result in a high indoor radon level. But you and your family are most likely to get your greatest exposure at home. That's where you spend most of your time. See what the Texas Indoor Radon Survey reported for Texas counties.
	More people die from Radon than from Drunk Driving
Should you test for radon? Testing is the only way to know your home's radon levels. There are not immediate symptoms that will alert you to the presence of radon. It typically takes years of exposure before any problems surface and then it is too late.The Environmental Protection Agency (U.S E.P.A._ and the Surgeons General's Office have urged widespread testing for radon. They estimated that as many as 20,000 lung cancer deaths are caused each year by radon. Next to smoking, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Across the state of Texas, nearly 1 out of 15 homes has radon levels over 4pCi/L, the EPA's recommended action level for radon exposure. How does radon get into a building? Most indoor radon comes into the building from the soil or rock beneath it. Radon and other gases rise through the soil and get trapped under the building. The trapped gases build up pressure. Air pressure inside homes is usually lower than the pressure in the soil. Therefore, the higher pressure under the building forces gases through floors and walls and into the building. Most of the gas moves through cracks and other openings. Once inside, the radon can become trapped and concentrated. We can test your home or business for radon.	Health Effects of Radon How can radon affect people's health? Almost all risk from radon comes from breathing air with radon and its decay products. Radon decay products cause lung cancer. The health risk of ingesting radon, in water for example, is dwarfed by the risk of inhaling radon and its decay products. They occur in indoor air or with tobacco smoke. Alpha radiation directly causes damage to sensitive lung tissue. Most of the radiation does is not actually from radon itself, though, which is mostly exhaled. It comes from radon's chain of short-lived solid decay products that are inhaled and lodge in the airways of the lungs. These radionuclides decay quickly, producing other radionuclides that continue damaging the lung tissue.There is no safe level of radon - any exposure poses some risk of cancer. In two 1999 reports, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) concluded after an exhaustive review that radon in indoor air is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. after cigarette smoking. The NAS estimated that 15,000-22,000 Americans die every year from radon-related lung cancer. Cigarette smoke makes the radon much more dangerous.
For information by jgg@radontexas.com Joe Goergen - Radon Measurement Technician, Mitigation Contractor 302 E. Main Ave., Round Rock, Texas 78664 Voice:(512) 255-3663, Fax:(512) 255-3744