All throughout the country, people are becoming more and more aware of the dangers that radon poses, particularly the threat of lung cancer. After all, as many as 20,000 people will die on a yearly basis as a result of lung cancer that resulted from radon exposure, often long term. And that’s just here in the United States alone, let alone in any other part of the world. This has made radon one of the leading causes of lung cancer, second only to smoking (though far less well known and readily recognized as a real and present threat in our lives). After all, if you live in a home that meets the action level that has been set by the EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency) or in a home that even exceeds that levels, you are being exposed to many times the amount of radiation you’d sustain if you were at the fence of a nuclear waste site (at least here in the United States).
But because radon is both odorless and tasteless, as well as invisible to the naked eye, it can be difficult to ascertain the threat that it poses in your life. After all, many people are living in homes with high levels of radon without even knowing it. As of recent estimates, it is believed that up to one home out of every 15 homes here in the United States has radon levels that are high enough to meet that EPA action levels. And in seven states found throughout the country, as many as one out of every three homes are impacted by such levels of radon, the same found to be true for three separate Native American reservations as well. And with each 100 Bq/m increase of radon that occurs, your overall risk of lung cancer can increase by as much as 16%, a percentage that is not one that should be discounted. Unfortunately, being exposed to radon long term can have even more pronounced impacts than only being exposed to it every once in awhile. This is particularly true when you factor in the high levels that many people live with.
All of this can seem very frightening indeed, but there is no need for you to panic about radon exposure. After all, if we brought everyone’s home’s radon levels down to below the EPA action level, total yearly lung cancer deaths could actually be reduced by as much as 4% (and by no less than 2%, for that matter). Therefore, it is clear to see that radon mitigation is something that works.
But how do you know if radon levels are high in your home? Fortunately, local radon mitigation and abatement companies can be found in many places throughout the United States. These local radon mitigation and abatement companies often provide residential radon testing services that can give you a better idea of your risk factor. A local radon mitigation and abatement service will likely perform a short term radon test that allows for testing between two and 90 total days. If the local radon mitigation company decides that more long term testing is needed, a long term radon detector can be used past that 90 day mark.
And if the local radon mitigation and abatement service finds high levels of radon in your home, there are many ways to bring it back down to safe levels. For instance, even passive methods of mitigation can be hugely successful in bringing down the overall radon levels found in your home, even reducing them by as much as 50%. And if passive methods employed by local radon mitigation and abatement companies doesn’t reduce the radon in your home as much as possible, these local radon mitigation and abatement companies can also employ other methods, such as a radon ventilation fan. Therefore, calling your local radon mitigation and abatement company to schedule radon testing will be more than worth it. As a matter of fact, this is something that, at the end of the day, might even end up saving your life from a danger you didn’t even know existed. Ultimately, this is not something that should be taken lightly.
