You should test your home for the presence of radon, end of story. The only exception is if you’ve already tested your home recently and know the levels. If you conduct a test and discover elevated levels in your home or residence, then you need to have a mitigation system installed to ventilate some of the deadly gas.
Why?
The answer is simple: radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, and it’s responsible for the deaths of more than 21,000 each year in the US alone. If you are exposed to high levels of radon gas for an extended period of time than you are more likely to get lung cancer.
Radon is the Second Leading Cause of Lung Cancer
That might not seem so scary at first, until you consider that lung cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of any form of cancer. This is because by the time most patients begin experiencing and showing symptoms, the disease has progressed beyond a curable state.
Why are we telling you all of this?
The Oakland County Health Divison is offering radon testing kits for residents for just $5 during National Radon Action Month, which is January. The price is more than half off the standard price of testing kits.
According to Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, these testing kits are valuable to homeowners than one may initially realize.
“Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer,” says Patterson. “The radon test kit is quick, easy and affordable.”
If you’re interested in purchasing a radon testing kit for your home, and live in the area you can get them from local Health Division offices in two separate locations:
- North Oakland Health Center, 1200 North Telegraph, Building 34E, Pontiac
- South Oakland Health Center, 27725 Greenfield Road, Southfield
Both offices will be closed on Wednesday Dec. 31, and Thursday Jan. 1 for the New Year’s holiday. However, normal office hours are noon-8 pm on Mondays and 8:30 am-5 pm Tuesday through Friday.
Test Your Home for Radon as Soon as Possible
Keep in mind, radon is an odorless, colorless and tasteless gas that is virtually indetectable. In fact, the only way to discover its presence is to test specifically for it, with testing kits like those the Oakland Health Division is offering.
The national radon action level as set by the US EPA is 4.0 pCi/L. Being exposed to that amount of radon gas on a daily basis is equal to smoking a half a pack of cigarettes. For every 15 additional pCi/L of exposure, equals a full pack of cigarettes. Needless to say, exposure to levels higher than the action limit is extremely dangerous and hazardous to one’s health. The most unfortunate thing about that is that you could be exposed to those levels every day in your own home and be none the wiser.
That’s why it’s important to test your home. It’s a silent killer.
Via: Patch
