Lung cancer deaths are on the rise. What are you doing to keep you and your family safe? The Surgeon General has made a troubling discovery over the years concerning lung cancer and its causes. While exposure to air pollution, cigarette smoke and genetics all contribute to lung cancer deaths, the second leading cause has been found to reside in American homes. Radon gas is a naturally occurring chemical that can put you and your family at risk for developing this debilitating disease. Radon gas testing, however, can drastically reduce this probability in a matter of weeks.
What is radon? Radon gas is caused by a form of decay deep in the earth, when certain minerals break down naturally and eventually rise through the soil as a noxious gas that can’t be detected by the human eye or nose. Short-term side-effects can be dizziness, nausea, headaches with no explanation and watering eyes. Long-term side-effects can manifest as cancer years down the line. What is radon? A dilemma that needs to be solved with a proactive attitude and quality local radon testing.
Who has radon in their homes? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, far too many. It’s thought as many as 20,000 deaths are caused every single year because of exposure to radon and these numbers are expected to rise if action isn’t taken. Multiple homes as well as Indian lands have been actively tested for radon gas and the result have proven both disturbing and shocking — as many as one in three homes have tested positive for abnormally high levels of radon gas exposure over the years.
What is radon testing and what can it do to keep you and your family healthy? A simple check-up can be done with either short-term or long-term detectors to determine whether or not your home is at the EPA’s recommended level. The risk of lung cancer has been found to be in direct proportion with the amount of gas in the air — it rises by 16% per 100 Bq/m increase in long-term exposure to average radon concentration. Local radon mitigation and abatement services are able to analyze this rise deeply to provide solutions that last.
Radon in your home can be reduced by a significant margin through a local sump pump excavation service or radon mitigation method. Passive systems of mitigation are done through the aid of various tools, such as radon ventilation fans, that gradually and carefully circulate this harmful chemical out of the air. These can lower indoor radon gas exposure by as much as 50%. Lung cancer deaths could be reduced by 2% to 4% every year through local radon testing — that’s as many as 5,000 lives saved.
The first step you need to take is having a local radon abatement service test your home for radon gas exposure. The EPA’s recommended action level is either at or above 4 pCi/L. Should you have far too much either in or around your home a combination of detectors, ventilation fans and sump pump excavation will be required over the coming days to clear the air. The peace-of-mind you’ll have either knowing you are safe from harm or are at risk will go a long way in helping you take the right course of action for your family’s future.
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