Contact: Sheryl Morey or Dorothy Gonzales, R.S.
Environmental Health Division
Genesee County Health Department joins with the Healthy
Indoor Air for America’s Homes Project, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a major
campaign to educate Americans about the dangers of radon exposure and to
encourage them to take action to identify and fix radon problems in their
homes. Free radon test kits are available to area residents during
National Radon Week, October 20-26, 2002. Radon is present in elevated
levels in about ten-percent of Genesee County homes, which compares with
over six-percent of homes across all of America.
Radon is a naturally occurring, invisible, odorless gas
that is harmlessly dispersed in outdoor air, but when trapped in
buildings, can be harmful at elevated levels. Exposure to elevated levels
of radon causes lung cancer in humans.
According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), radon
is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. Radon causes
between 15,000 and 22,000 lung cancer deaths each year.
Testing homes for elevated levels of radon is simple.
Radon test kits are also available to purchase at local hardware stores,
home improvement centers, some supermarkets or directly from a laboratory.
Radon problems can be fixed by qualified contractors for a cost similar to
that for many common home repairs such as painting or having a new water
heater installed (anywhere from $500 to about $2,500).
For more Radon information, contact the Genesee County
Health Department at (810) 257-3603, the National Radon Information Line
at (800) 767-7236, or Radon FIX-IT Program at (800) 767-6999 to obtain
information about how to reduce radon levels and a listing of certified
radon mitigation contractors.
