Understanding the Risk of Radon in Your House

Sorry, but I don't buy all the scare tactics about Radon. I remember when this flap was initiated back in the 1970's I put it it in the same garbage can as GW. And it is "whether" not "weather".

You are only in mild danger when your air quality waivers close to the PEL "Permissible Exposure Limits", but in certain geographical areas where natural occurring Uranium exists at elevated levels, Radon becomes much more of a hazard. I haven't dug too far into the studies that suggest that Radon is the second largest known carcinogen, but I would suggest that most cases are reported in select geographical locations.

Hello Shawn,

you would be right to say the reported cases are in certain geographical areas.

As I have said a member of my Family was living on 'bed-rock' of Granite, which puts out Radon. She and everyone else in that County could not get away from it. She had to live with it. But, it is often not mentioned in the actual locations it is found most............I wonder why..............mmmmmmmmmm?

jfmfit

Hello Shawn,

I have a real interest in this as my Sister lived in Cornwall and now Bristol. I know she was in the centre of a huge area of granite which of course emits Radon constantly.

I think it is one of those things you should not worry about! People have lived and breed in Cornwall and Devon, both Radon areas for thousands of years with, as far as I can figure, no discernible damage to peoples health. Or perhaps I should it matters not anyway, because most people do not have a choice of whether they can 'escape' the effects at all.

It seems if you live in a Radon area there is literally nothing you can do to get away from it, as it is in the soil (don't do any gardening?), in the water (die of thirst), etc.

Just chill and don't worry because you can do nothing about it that I know anyway.

jfmfit

The only issue is when your house or well water emits abnormally large doses of radon which can be trapped in you house or basement. Ventilation systems can actually circulate the air to decrease Radon to background levels. There is a reason why Radon is the second largest known carcinogen in the US. Exposure to elevated levels will lead to cancer.

http://radsci1.home.mchsi.com/irlcs.pdf

My brother lives in Ireland in one of the granite areas. He had to put a radon proof fancy plastic sheet under his house when he built it. I believe radon risks are localized. That probably means that where it is bad, it is really really bad. I left ireland 10 years ago. I do remember that they were finding extremely high rates of lung cancer in those areas where radon seepage was greatest. (The overall rate might be pretty normal, but clusters of lung cancer were in the granite areas) I guess they did measels charts and high radon and high cancer showed up in the same places. They were pretty proactive about saving health service money in Ireland so they decided to treat the radon where it happens rather than treat the cancers later. So, I think if you are in a granite area, you might as well check the radon levels.