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Are radon fears overblown?

New state figures show local lung cancer cases below normal — even though radon levels here among highest in U.S. But many scientists say statistics misleading.

Apr 02, 2009 10:32 EST

Lancaster

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By AD CRABLE, Staff Writer

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QUOTE (tv man @ Apr 2 2009, 01:19 PM)

Maybe if the state would require mandatory testing in every non-outbuilding, they might just find that they have been wrong about smoke and second hand smoke causing the health issues!
Not that they would be man enough to admit their errors.

That's funny. The number of people who have emphysema and are smokers vs. the people who have emphysema and are non-smokers would make your doubt of smoke causing harm look pretty funny.

dee

Apparently they are since I went on the web site three months ago requesting info and never got a response.

pml

I can assure you that when you ask the oncologist what could have caused the lung cancer and he says smoking and radon gas, then you find out that you were living with over four times the EPA action level in your home for 18 years, you don't need any more convincing. My husband, Joe hadn't smoked in 27 years and we really didn't know what radon was. He only lived six weeks after his diagnosis because the lung cancer had already spread to his liver and bones. Most lung cancer victims don't live very long after diagnosis because most of the time lung cancer is not diagnosed until the late stages. Usually there are no symptoms with lung cancer; perhaps a slight cough or something else that you may attribute to allergies.

Joe never knew that we had been living with high levels of radon. I found out one month after his death, when I heard a slight mention of radon as a cause of lung on the morning news after Dana Reeves, a 44-year old nonsmoker had died of lung cancer. I thought about what the oncologist had said. I bought a test kit and found out about the radon in our home.

When lung cancer takes the life of the person you love most in this world and you think you could have prevented it, you know things have to be different for others. Because of this, the Radon Awareness Act became law in Illinois January 2008. When a $17 radon test kit and a mitigation system for $1,000 could save a life, that's not a high price to pay. I only wish someone had told me. I only wish there had been a law so that our home could have been mitigated when it was purchased.

Although Joe is not here physically, he is with me especially every time I talk with a group of citizens, state or federal legislators. Joe's legacy is helping to save the lives of others.

If we had only known.

Gloria Linnertz
seascape@htc.net
618 830 4660
VP, Cancer Survivors Against Radon
www.canSAR.org

Gloria Linnertz

QUOTE (apple4ever @ Apr 2 2009, 12:40 PM)

"mitigation is also relatively low-cost"

I wouldn't call $1500 low cost.

I think the fears of Radon are definitely overblown. Is it possible it causes cancer? Probably. Enough of a risk to worry about? Probably not.

Taking a daily amount of Selenium would counteract any effect Radon would have, anyway, as it has high anti-cancer properties. Making sure Vitamin D intake levels are good will help as well.

Your statements about supplements are not accurate. No amount of these or any other supplements will protect from the effects of ongoing, long-term exposure to radon or any other toxic hazard.

$1500. is relatively low cost over the life of a house. If the radon is only in an unfinished basement where stuff is stored, and you visit to take the holiday decorations out once a year, fine. But if the rooms where radon are found are living areas, or worse, bedrooms, then remediate.

ceejay

Considering how people spend over $1,000 to purchase TV's, or a washer and dryer set or a new refrigerator. Can you really tell me that $1,500 for a radon system is excessive? If the roof needs re shingling or the septic needs repair it doesn't appear to be a big deal.

Cost is a relative term, that is really what I am trying to point out.

Mike C

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