Radon

Questions frequently arise when homebuyers encounter a radon reduction system. People are usually unfamiliar with them and are sometimes leery of their presence. A large number of radon reduction systems have been installed in the past 15 years, so they're not uncommon anymore. Still, the vast majority of houses do not have them, so most people know little or nothing about them. Although the systems are simple in design, questions arise because it is not immediately obvious how the systems work or whether they have significant drawbacks.

There's never a shortage of health crises -- cancer, AIDS, infant mortality, obesity, a resurgence of tuberculosis.Some stay in the public consciousness for years, even decades. Others burst on the scene then disappear.Remember radon?Before 1985, most people had never heard of it. Then suddenly, the public was bombarded with studies, stories and scary statistics. Brochures from legions of new testing companies warned that the gas causes lung cancer at certain levels.The hysteria quickly passed.

The American Lung Association of Maryland is offering two "do-it-yourself" home radon-testing kits to Maryland homeowners. A short-term kit sells for $12 plus tax and a long-term kit sells for $22. With the short-term kit, homeowners test their indoor air with a sampler for four to seven days, then mail the materials for laboratory analysis. The long-term kit provides the opportunity to test indoor air for three months to a year, allowing for a more accurate reading. Kits may be purchased by check, Visa or MasterCard.

For years, the federal government has been advising people to test their homes for cancer-causing radon gas in winter.That's because it was thought that tightly sealed doors and windows were likely to trap the radioactive gas and produce the highest readings on test equipment.Forget that.Radon experts now say there are so many factors that can contribute to high indoor radon readings -- including rainfall, soil type, vegetation, climate and construction quality -- that homeowners should invest in multiple tests.

WASHINGTON -- Several new studies of radon, the radioactive gas known to cause cancer and found to be seeping into millions of homes across the country, have uncovered little evidence linking household exposure to the disease, raising questions about how much risk radon poses to humans at very low levels.Researchers say these studies have in most cases failed to show an association between lung cancer and household radon levels at or even slightly higher than the level at which the Environmental Protection Agency recommends taking corrective measures.

Are you concerned about radon?Some government agencies and health-interest groups think you should be.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifies radon as the "No. 1 environmental pollutant" and says it is second only to smoking as the cause of lung cancer. The American Lung Association says radon is responsible for "thousands" of the 140,000 lung cancer deaths each year.What is it, exactly? Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in the soil.

High levels of radon, an odorless, natural gas that can increase an individual's lung cancer risk, have been found again in at least three areas of Crofton Junior High School."

Nearly one of every five houses in Maryland has elevated levels of radon, but only about one in 10 homeowners has even checked for the radioactive, cancer-causing gas, new surveys show.Nineteen percent of 1,126 houses measured across the state were found to have radon concentrations greater than the action level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a survey conducted over the past year by the EPA and the Maryland Department of the Environment."That's high, and that warrants some action," said Dr. Thomas J. Godar, a former president and adviser of the American Lung Association.

Ten million homes and 38 million Americans are at risk from dangerous levels of radon gas exposure, according to estimates from the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists. Yet local industry representatives say homebuyers - immersed in today's competitive, seller's market - are forgoing radon testing before settling the sale. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 21,000 Americans die of radon-induced lung cancer each year - a revised number that is 150 percent higher than the EPA's estimate in 1994.

The day after Anne Arundel County school officials suspended the head custodian for making incoherent calls about radon gas at Crofton Middle School, an environmental specialist yesterday installed radon-detection devices in the building.Crofton Middle, as it turns out, is the only school in the county system being monitored regularly for radon.Yesterday, Daniel A. La Hart, the schools' environmental program manager, put detection devices called canisters in three locations at the school.