April 3rd, 2008
A University of Ottawa researcher is launching the largest-ever study examining environmental factors related to the rates of lung cancer deaths.Michelle Turner, a PhD candidate in the university’s Population Health program, is setting out on a three-year study looking at the role of residential radon and air pollution in the deaths of Americans over a 20-year period.
Radon is a colourless, odourless and tasteless radioactive gas. It’s emitted from the earth and usually collects in the basements and first levels of houses.
Other studies have linked radon and air pollution to lung cancer but the research has focused mostly on workers in specific, high-risk jobs, like mining.
March 30th, 2008
You can’t see, smell or taste radon.
The gas emanates naturally from the soil, seeping up into homes that rest on the ground. The only way to avoid it, really, is to have a house on stilts.
But the radioactive gas is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers in America, as well as the second leading cause of lung cancer overall, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It claims about 21,000 lives annually.
March 25th, 2008
Exposure to levels of radon gas typically found in 90 percent of American homes appears to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer by as much as 60 percent, according to a study published in the March issue of the journal Health Physics. The finding differs significantly from the results of previous case-control studies of the effects of low-level radon exposure, which have detected a slightly elevated lung cancer risk (but without statistical significance) or no risk at all.
February 6th, 2008
January was a busy month, given all those presidential candidates flying around the state. Plus a good many other events were going on as well. Thus, there was little time to take note that January was National Radon Action Month. For Florida - and particularly Polk County - it’s an observance that shouldn’t pass unnoticed.
“Radon,” explained a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, “is a naturally occurring, invisible, odorless, tasteless gas that is found at low concentrations in outdoor air, but which can reach harmful levels when trapped in buildings. Scientists have long been concerned about the health risk of radon, but never before has there been such overwhelming proof that exposure to elevated levels of radon causes lung cancer in humans.”
February 4th, 2008
Out of her tragedy, Linnertz, of Waterloo, has been honored for her efforts at spreading awareness about the second-leading cause of the lung cancer.
Linnertz received the Excellence in Radon Award for her effort in helping to pass the Radon Awareness Act, which informs home buyers about the dangers of radon and encourages all home owners to have an indoor radon test performed prior to purchasing or moving in a house.
January 19th, 2008
The American Lung Association, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Iowa are urging residents to take a stand to protect their families by testing their homes for an odorless, colorless, tasteless pollutant that can cause lung cancer.
January 14th, 2008
Laura Longhurst never has smoked - which made her diagnosis of late-stage lung cancer in November 2006 all the more puzzling.
Her husband, Al, started snooping around the Internet, learned radon can cause lung cancer and decided to test their Sandy home for it.
The radioactive gas was there, he discovered, registering at a level of 3.2 picocuries per liter [pCi/L], just below the Environmental Protection Agency’s threshold of 4 pCi/L for safe indoor air. “I had never heard of it before,” Laura Longhurst said.
The message isn’t new: Get your home tested for radon.
January 14th, 2008
She’s never smoked, so Barbara Sorgatz was stunned to learn she had lung cancer.
What probably caused the tumor, she later found out, was radioactive radon gas seeping into her home near Glen Ellyn.
January 4th, 2008
You can’t see, smell or taste it, but it may be a problem in your home and is a leading cause of lung cancer deaths. What is this invisible substance? Radon. Oakland County Health Division (OCHD) will provide free home radon test kits (one kit per customer) during January and prevention information about radon in observance of National Radon Action Month (NRAM)
January 3rd, 2008
Recognizing January as National Radon Month, Midland County Health Officials remind residents to test their homes for the colorless, odorless gas.Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can accumulate in homes and cause cancer, said Robert Wolfe, responsible for the department’s well and septic efforts in the east half of the county.
