SWAT Environmental

Radon is a naturally produced radioactive gas that can enter your home at any time. It increases the risk of developing lung cancer when people are exposed to high concentrations over the course of months or years. Fortunately, SWAT Environmental specializes in radon mitigation and testing for residential and commercial properties. They can use advanced tools and techniques to lower radioactive gas levels. You need to know how SWAT Environmental can handle radon problems in your home or business. Radon testing is the first step your home inspector SWAT Environmental will take. This process can be done quickly at first to determine if you have an immediate problem and require radon remediation. A longer radon testing process will provide results that are more accurate, if time permits. Testing will show just how serious the problem is in your home. When results above 2.7pCi/L, you should strongly consider a radon mitigation system from S.W.A.T. Results below a specific threshold show that radon abatement might not be required at the moment. However, many citizens choose to have the radon mitigation system installed even when the readings are marginal since the units not only reduce radon levels, but also improve overall air quality within the dwelling.


Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Relevant Published Radon Studies

Everyone knows that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. What most people do not know, however, is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the country. If forced to guess, many people might select asbestos contamination, due to the large number of asbestos-related ads placed by law firms on late-night television. They would be wrong, however. Instead, studies have shown that exposure to radon gas is the second-leading cause of lung cancer.

In many instances, people have never even heard of radon gas or suppose that it is some sort of industrial effluvium that affects specialized populations such as miners. However, radon gas exposure is actually found in many homes across the country, and is especially concentrated in certain regions of the nation such as Colorado. This does not mean that radon is not a problem elsewhere—just that it is a larger problem in those areas where it is especially prevalent.

Radon and its so-called daughters are found everywhere on earth, but concentration levels are low in outdoor areas due to constant air movements. Inside, however, radon levels elevate due to the confined nature of air movements inside most homes. Without an opportunity to disperse naturally, radon levels rise to the point where they become an increasing risk as they become ever more present in the environment.

One European study examined radon levels in 9 different EU-area nations and found that the average level of radon present in the homes of control group participants was approximately 97 Becquerel per square meter whereas the average level in homes of study participants found to have some sign of lung cancer was 104 Becquerel. While this showed how relatively small increases in radon levels can have an effect on health, the truly alarming results were found in homes with increasingly higher levels of exposure.

A series of American studies that looked at homes in Missouri, Idaho, New Jersey, Utah, and Iowa found basically the same thing—namely, that lung cancer rates rose in direct correlation with rising levels of radon gas in the home. In all of these radon studies, the rate of lung cancers kept rising as the radon levels rose. No ceiling to the relationship was uncovered, which is to say that at no level of radon exposure did the lung cancer rate finally level off to the point where it did not continue to rise. The radon gas study published by the US EPA is especially alarming.

In general, lung cancers rose at a rate of about 8 percent over the otherwise expected lifetime rate for every 16 percent rise in radon gas exposure rates. Of course these rates are much less alarming when viewed as a totality of population rather than as observable laboratory incidents. Since the lung cancer death rate for people who have lived to their mid-70s and not died of something else is less than one percent for non-smokers and about 10 percent for those who do smoke, the rises due to radon gas reach to a level of about 16 percent for smokers and still well under one percent for non-smokers in heavy-radon home environments over 400 Becquerel per square meter.

The disparity in these two rates reveals that radon might be the number two cause of lung cancer, but it is an impossibly long way from challenging for the number one spot held by smoking. In addition, radon testing can lead to relatively simple radon reduction methods that will drop the overall home exposure without requiring any exertion of willpower or change in human behavior on the part of the residents.

8 comments:

  1. I didn't realize that the totals were that high for radon deaths! Is that just here in the US or is that worldwide? I wonder why Colorado has such a high concentration of radon poisoning.

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  2. Well at least smoking still beats radon poisoning but it doesn't give me much hope. People know the dangers of smoking and still do it and the governments way of curbing the addiction is to tax the heck out of it. Will the US government turn a blind eye to required radon testing in homes where people are at the most risk?

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  3. Do all members of the radon progeny have the same half life or do some of them last longer than others or not decay at all? I believe lead is one of the daughters and I am sure it does not decay. Does that mean lead must be completely removed to ensure no radon is present in the home?

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  4. I hate to say it, but I never realized the gas was such a big killer. Killing more people than drunk driving? That is crazy, of course, drunk driving ends up in the media, whereas, Radon deaths are not likely to.

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  5. Now, THIS is the type of information I like to see. Actual numbers to go along with all of the hype. Even after saying that, I cannot believe how many deaths come from Radon. That is crazy!

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  6. These numbers are mind-blowing. To someone that has never even heard of this problem, it can be very scary!

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  8. I have stumbled across the 15+ bullshit websites you have produced to LURE to people to your UNETHICIL company! Add having a registered sex offender over your commercial division just shows how LOW you will go for a buck! I hope you company ROTS in hell after what you did to me!

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