odorless, invisible, tasteless, and deadly
Second only to
smoking for the cause of lung cancer in America, radon is an odorless,
invisible, tasteless, radioactive gas that emanates naturally from soils and
rocks. It mainly enters homes and other indoor air spaces of buildings through
cracks and holes in the basement or crawl space. All rocks contain some uranium
and it decays to form radium-226, which is the immediate parent of radon. The
main source of indoor radon is the uranium content in the soils around and
below the house. Higher the concentration of uranium, higher the chance of
radon entering the house. Although minimal, other sources of radon can be
traced in the water supplies and the ground water.
The primary
exposure to radon is the inhalation of the radioactive gas. Its’ most notable
health effect is the lung cancer. The likelihood of getting lung cancer is
directly related to the amount of exposure to radon. There are studies that
show radon’s connection to leukemia, but the chances are very scarce. Children
are more vulnerable to radon than adults because they breathe faster and take
in more air. Wisconsin has the highest levels of radon but it is still found
around the world since every rock has uranium to some level. There are many readily available
test kits for radon so test for radon with even the slightest worry for
exposure.
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