LungBlog

 Each year in Minnesota: More people are diagnosed with lung cancer than breast, colon and prostate cancer combined. It’s a disease most people associate with smokers, but a growing number of patients have never smoked.

Sometimes the place that makes us feel the safest hides a horrible truth. Berni Collins and her family learned that three years ago when she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

The possibility that radon is causing the high rates of cancer has been mentioned in New Oak but according to the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, radon is only linked to lung cancer and the residents of New Oak are experiencing a range of cancers from lung to breast to womb.

Health Canada has sharply tightened the standards for radon in homes and public buildings to reduce the risk of lung cancer.

The new rules require remedial measures when average radon concentrations in a living space exceed 200 becquerels per cubic metre - a quarter of the current limit.

It reportedly causes more death than drunken driving, drowning and home fires, yet radon has never received the respect as a threat to public health that health experts believe it deserves.

Part of the reason, experts note, is the nature of the gas itself. Though radioactive, it is naturally occurring, not man-made. Being tasteless and invisible, it also is not easy to detect.

Concerns about radon exposure at City View School more than 11 years ago have prompted school and public health officials to hold another round of meetings with former City View employees, and for the first time the district plans to contact hundreds of former City View students.

 Radon Is Impossible To Detect Without A Test, And Is The Second Leading Cause Of Lung Cancer

New homes in Minnesota will have something that no other state requires: systems to remove radon. The new law caps off three years of reporting by the I-TEAM.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the radon bill into law Friday, along with several other bills. With his signature, he helped make new homes in the state safer.

You only need to look at Liz Hoffmann to know one person can make a difference.

All the correspondence regarding secondhand smoke seems to be getting out of hand. It would be beneficial if some real facts were presented to the general public.

Roanoke County has a predicted average indoor radon screening level greater than 4 pCi/L (pico curies per liter). It is noted that about one-third of radon-induced lung cancer could be avoided if homes with radon exceeding 4 pCi/L (the Environmental Protection Agency action level) could be corrected.

Six schools in the Halifax area have had higher levels of potentially harmful radon gas than the new, stricter limits Health Canada is considering.

Radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States.But while most Americans know tobacco smoke is the primary trigger for lung cancer, very few are aware of the risks posed by radon — or that dangerous levels of the gas can be found in many homes.