Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas found in soil, rock, and water throughout the U.S. Radon can cause lung cancer and other health issues. It tends to collect in homes, sometimes to dangerously high concentrations.

Almost all risk from radon comes from breathing air that has been contaminated with radon and its decay products. Radon decay products are known to cause lung cancer.

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. (the first being cigarette smoke). The NAS estimated that 15,000-22,000 Americans die every year from radon-related lung cancer.

You cannot see, feel, smell, or taste radon. Testing your home is the only way to know if you and your family are at risk for radon poisoning. The EPA and Surgeon General recommend testing for radon in all rooms below the third floor.

Radon testing is inexpensive and easy. Purchase a do-it-yourself test kit or contact RBS&K to hire a trained professional.

The first step is to test your home for radon. If radon is present at or above the EPA’s Action Level of 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L), it should be mitigated. To be safe, you may want to take action if the levels are in the range of 2-4 pCi/L. Radon levels can usually be brought down to 2 pCi/L or lower fairly simply.

The best method for reducing radon depends on the design of your home and how radon is entering your home. Radon management may be as simple as sealing cracks in floors and walls or it may require installing a system to remove and effectively stop radon from entering through a crawl space, a concrete floor or a basement slab. These systems are simple and don’t involve major home modifications. Other radon mitigation methods may be necessary.

If you have a private well, the well water should be tested to ensure that radon levels meet the EPA’s newly proposed standard.