Go Green from your feet up! Radon.

Is your home free of radon gas? Go green from your feet up!
EPA Launched Living Healthy & Green Media Campaign in 2009
Have you heard it advertised? hope so.




The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a campaign in January of 2009 focused on clearing the air from the ground up making radon gas in the home an easy target as enemy #1. The concept of the campaign is good--we should all make a commitment to go green from the ground up and begin by ensuring that the air in our homes and buildings is safe. In addition radon is also a target this year for Cancer Survivors Against Radon CANSAR because of "radon induced cancer", they launched a nationwide call to action in May of 2009. CANSAR's website lists 21,000 as the number of Americans every year who die from radon.

Radon is a radioactive gas caused by the natural decay of uranium, it is found in nearly all soils. Radon moves up through the ground to the air above and dissipates, in an outside area this is not usually a concern, it becomes a problem however when it enters a home, or any occupied building:

How does it get in - it enters your home through cracks and other holes in the foundation.

What happens when radon enters the home - your home traps radon inside, where it may build up to levels considered dangerous for humans.

Any home may have a radon problem.

new and old homes,

well-sealed and drafty homes, and

homes with or without basements.

Radon can also get into your well water and enter the home.

Some building materials have radon, but usually not enough to cause radon problems on their own.

The new campaign is designed to educate the public about how easy it can be to detect and rid the home of radon. Basic remediation, such as, sealing cracks, installing fans, and additional piping are often all that is needed to correct a problem. Pamphlets are available on the EPA site with remediation information.


Although it's a multi-media campaign with TV and radio materials, I actually haven't seen any of them on my local TV or heard ads for it on my local radio stations. It's great that they have taken on this campaign, if any one is interested in using their materials EPA website offers that the entire campaign is available in multiple media formats and sizes for newspapers, magazine, billboards and the Web in both English and Spanish. All elements can be viewed and ordered on line at www.epapsa.com

The EPA site also list states who have received grant money for the State Indoor Radon Grant Program (SIRG) on their site. Contact your state to find out how the money is being spent--EPA lists state contact information on their state.

Kits for radon testing are available from many environmental testing laboratories and often through your states department of health.

If you haven't tested for radon gas in your home, why not? Maybe it's time for you to go green from the ground up.

"We want Americans to know that a big part of “living green” is breathing clean, healthy indoor air."~EPA.gov




Visit EPA website at: EPA

Informative videos:

Radon in Air video on youtube.com
Radalink's video mentions sellers interfereing with the test, this isn't a concern when your testing for your own purposes, in which case you may just want to purchase a kit locally.

Radon in granite counter-top; how to test for Radon in granite counter-tops
Updated - Testing your granite counter-top for radon by AirCheck, who also has a video on why you should use a geiger counter to check for Radon -- basically it comes down to the fact that other radioactive elements are in granite and the geiger counter may be reacting to those elements.