Your home should be your safe space, and you’ve likely gone out of your way to ensure that your family is taken care of with items such as smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, carbon monoxide detectors, and security systems or locks. While not glamorous or high value-adding, these tools keep you safe from the elements or dangers of the outside world.
But there is another possible threat that you may not know about, and because of that, you are left vulnerable to its effects if it happens to make its way into your home. One specific harmful substance, known as radon, isn’t often on everyone’s radar, but it should be.
What Is Radon, and How Is It Produced?
Radon is a type of radioactive gas not typically found in homes. However, it can sometimes enter through cracks and holes in the foundation, well water, or building materials that contain high levels of the gas.
It is produced in several ways. One is through uranium decay that can happen in soil and rock beneath your property. If there is a lot of decay underneath your home, the gas can rise and seep into the house. It’s also released into the air through mining and can be found in higher amounts near nuclear power plants that produce uranium fuel.
The gas is odourless, invisible, and tasteless, so identifying it in your house is next to impossible if you don’t have the right tools.
How Does Radon Negatively Impact Health?
When radon builds up within an enclosed space, and you breathe in that air, the radioactive particles travel down into the lungs and get trapped. Once in the lungs, they break down and release energy that damages lung tissue. Over time, breathing in these particles can lead to lung cancer, and radon is considered the leading cause of lung cancer in people who don’t smoke.
Since breathing in radon has no short-term effects, it can be hard to determine if you are being overexposed to the gas until long after it has had the chance to cause real damage. It is important to note, though, that not everyone who experiences high radon exposure will develop lung cancer.
Health Canada Taking Action Against Radon
Health Canada continues to monitor radon exposure and has begun taking steps toward mandatory testing to keep Canadians safe. In the meantime, testing kits are available at stores such as Home Depot for people worried their home has high radon levels. Digital testers can also be found on Amazon Canada.
To learn more about radon, its effects, and how to get rid of it, stay tuned for part 2.