How Radon Affects Your Health...

11/22/2022

Did you know that Radon is the second cause of lung cancer next to smoking? Here’s why:

What is Radon?

Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas. It forms naturally when radioactive metals like uranium, break down in rocks, soil, or groundwater. It evaporates and disappears outdoors, so levels outside are low. Radon gas can enter buildings through their foundations and become trapped which causes high-radon levels indoors

How Can You Get Exposed to Radon?

Indoors

Even if you're just staying at home or working on your office, you can get exposed to radon if you usually spend your time in the basement. Lower levels of a house or building which are closest to the soil or rock, like a crawlspace, are the source of radon. Radon gas can also enter through construction joints, cracks in walls or floors, gaps in foundations, or openings near pipes or wires. Lastly, granite countertops can also give off radon gas.

Some Fields of Works

Miners are one of the most common workers who has a high chance of getting exposed to high levels of radon as they work underground. Radon was not known to people hundreds of years ago so it caused the high death rate of miners during that time. There were studies around the 1950s and 1960s that proved that radon was the cause of lung cancer among miners. People who work on factories can also be exposed to radon if they are working in uranium processing factories or if they get in contact with phosphate fertilizers.