Cancer-causing radon escapes legislative attention

Gail Orcutt's only symptom was an occasional cough. Doctors eventually diagnosed lung cancer in the non-smoker, and removed her lung. Today, she is a rare survivor of what is suspected to be radon-induced cancer caused by exposure in her home, and advocated for more awareness of the issue.

Hundreds of radon mitigation systems that are supposed to funnel toxic gas out of basements are not getting tested and could be defective.

Classified as a class A carcinogen like arsenic and asbestos, the colorless and odorless gas causes lung cancer when radon decay particles attach to dust and are breathed into the lungs and damage the DNA, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"The law says we're supposed to do inspections but we can't because we don't have the funds to do it," said Rick Welke, radon program manager at the Iowa Department of Public Health. "There's people installing 200 systems a year, and they've never been inspected."

How serious is the problem?

"It's very prevalent in the Unites States, and of the U.S., Iowa is in the highest range for radon levels," says Kim Johnson, Environmental Health Director for Buena Vista County. "In Iowa, northwest Iowa is the highest."

Solid numbers are hard to come by, and there is a limited database of completed tests to go on, but one website indicates that the average indoor radon level in BV County homes tested with Air Chek Inc. equipment is 9.3 pCi/liter, well above the 4 pCi level that the EPA suggests for taking action. The website reports that 70 percent of the tests done in the county are at 4 pCi or above.

"I know we have had houses here with test result levels in the hundreds," Johnson says. "And don't go by your neighbors - two houses right next to each other may test out completely different."

The county environmental office makes test kits available for $7. A homeowner puts the test in the lowest lived-in level of their home for 3-7 days, then sends it in for a reading. For privacy, results are mailed to the homeowner only.

Often problem level radon locally can be dealt with by "tightening up a home," Johnson says - such as repairing cracks in a basement floor or foundation and covering holes or floor drains - especially those that lead to sump pumps.

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Cancer-causing radon escapes legislative attention