Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls on home owners to test their dwellings for cancer-causing Radon Gas.
Note:
(1) Radon is a radioactive, cancer-causing gas.
(2) Radon is the second greatest cause of lung cancer, after smoking.
(3) Some 250 lung cancer cases each year, here in Ireland, are linked to the exposure to Radon.
(4) It is easy and inexpensive to test your home for Radon Gas.
(5) It is easy to reduce Radon levels in your home.
On European Radon Day, 7th November, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are calling on all householders to test their homes for this cancer-causing radioactive gas. Radon is second only to smoking as the leading cause of lung cancer. It is estimated that some 250 lung cancer cases each year, here in Ireland, are linked to Radon Gas exposure.
Radon comes from rocks and soils and can get into your home through the small cracks and openings in the foundations of a house or indeed the gaps around service pipes. Because Radon has no colour, taste or smell; the only way to know how much radon is in your home is to take a simple radon test.
The test costs about €50 and can be ordered from one of the services registered with the EPA. Two small detectors, about the size of a biscuit, are delivered to you by post and placed in your home. After three months, they are then posted back to the laboratory, where they are analysed to see how much Radon they have been exposed to. The results are then posted back to you.
More than 62,000 homes in Ireland have been tested for Radon so far. If you haven’t already done so, the EPA would urge you to protect your family’s health by taking this simple and inexpensive test as soon as possible. So far, the EPA have identified almost 8,800 homes with levels of Radon above the acceptable level – some homes have had extremely high levels.
The good news is that Radon is easy to test and simple solutions are available to reduce high levels where necessary.
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