Environmental Health educates county on radon

    Radon gas is the focus of the Washington County Environmental Health Department?s recent educational campaign. The department won a $2,500 grant from the Iowa Department of Public Health to spread the word about the dangers of radon. The grant allows the department to hand out 300 free radon test kits. Department employees have used the grant to give Power Point presentations to elementary students about radon, where it comes from and how to detect it.

    Radon is a naturally occurring gas that is both colorless and odorless. It is produced by the breakdown of uranium in soil, rock, and water. When radon decays into radioactive solids, it can attach to dust particles that find their way into unsuspecting lungs. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States after smoking. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that radon took the lives of 20,000 Americans in 2009 through lung cancer.

    Jennifer Bennett, county environmental assistant, is the one who puts on the Power Point slide shows for young kids. She said she includes a lot of pictures to hold the kids? interest.

    ?I asked them at the beginning if they knew what radon is. None of them knew,? said Bennet. ?After my presentation, I gave them five review questions. The class got them all right!?

    Bennett tells the kids that just because they live near a home with low radon levels doesn?t mean they?re safe from the gas. She says radon concentrations can vary widely from one house to another, even on the same block.

    Radon has existed for a long time, but not until the 1980s did scientists connect the gas to lung cancer. Dangerous levels of radon are found indoors because that is where it is concentrated. It seeps into homes through crawl spaces, cracks in the foundation and even through the concrete itself. Radon concentrations are usually highest in basements because basements are low-pressure zones, meaning air moves toward them.  

For the full story, see the Feb. 8 edition of The Washington Evening Journal