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EVERY YEAR IN Ireland, around 300 people die from lung cancer caused by a radioactive gas known as radon. That’s 3,000 lives lost every decade.
We have a particular geology in Ireland that emits this radioactive gas from igneous rocks that is trapped by our homes at a higher rate than most countries.
EPA and GSI mapping shows that nearly half a million people are at risk of having high levels of radon in their homes.
Read more here on how to support a Noteworthy project to investigate if the State is doing enough to protect families from the cancer-causing dangerous gas, radon.
Luckily, we know how to easily prevent this gas from entering our homes. A simple €50 test can determine if you have radon in your home and, if you do, a sump can be cheaply installed that constantly sucks the gas out of the subfloor so that it never enters your home.
Unfortunately, however, many of us are still not taking the simple steps to combat the problem and potentially save the lives of the people we love – but why?
Hidden to the eye
Detecting which homes have high levels can also be very difficult as it requires occupants to register to get a test and there are a myriad of psychological reasons why we choose not to bother.
Part of the problem is that radon is a naturally occurring gas that is invisible to the human eye.
While we are conditioned to fear complex technologies and substances that we don’t understand like modern nuclear power, we often ignore real world dangers that are invisible to the human eye, such as radon gas exposure.
Because radon is an invisible problem, however, most people don’t bother to get a test even when those tests are offered for free in very high-risk areas.
Practical solutions for the ‘right fix’
Having made more than one TV documentary looking at this subject over many years, I have come to the conclusion we’re not deploying the right policies to fix this.
We need to employ the same reasoning that we did when we made seat belts mandatory. We need to make radon tests mandatory for all buildings showing medium to high levels of risk on radon mapping.
We also need much bigger subsidies for rehabilitation works. The fear of having to pay €1,000 or more for a radon sump can lead some people to put off getting a test.
The cost to our health system of treating lung cancer from radon is many times more than offering free sumps to high radon homes and the human impact is incalculable.
We have already made energy ratings mandatory for all buildings advertised for sale or rent in line with the need to hit our mandatory EU emissions targets.
We can absolutely do the same with radon. While there are no EU targets for saving lives from radon, bringing in something akin to the workplace-smoking ban can work if there is the political will to do so.
Will we act to prevent another 3,000 deaths this decade or kick the can down the road and let more die from a gas that is easily controlled with the right measures?
As we’re doing very hard things to save lives now during the pandemic, I hope our political system can now do the right, and easy thing, and bring in measures to ensure the end of radon deaths in Ireland for good.
Marcus Stewart is a TV and Film documentary producer with Earth Horizon Productions and produces the EcoEye environmental series on RTE.
Marcus wanted to dedicate this article to the EPA’s “brilliant” Dr Ciara McMahon who sadly passed away recently.
“I learned much of what I know about radon and radiation exposure from Ciara and her team at the EPA. May her science based reasoning and efforts to save lives be remembered. Rest in peace Ciara. I hope we can honour your work and dedication by finally fixing this problem.”
RADON AWARE Proposal
Is the State doing enough to protect families from this cancer-causing dangerous gas?
The Noteworthy team wants to examine if enough resources are available to tackle the silent killer and find out if authorities have given any consideration to providing financial support for radon remediation works.
More details on how you can support this work here.
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You are approx. 6 times more likely to die of radon gas exposure if you smoke, 85%-90% of radon linked cancers affect smokers. So of the 300 radon linked cancers in Ireland per year, about 270 were linked to smoking + radon.
Smoking reduces the lung’s ability to repair radiation damage, making the risk of radon far greater. There needs to be greater focus on informing people about the connection between smoking and radon gas. I noticed the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland started to mention this connection.
“Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, and the risk is significantly higher for smokers than for nonsmokers. More than 85% of radon-induced lung cancer deaths are among smokers. The most powerful approach for reducing the public health burden of radon is shaped by 2 overarching principles: public communication efforts that promote residential radon testing and remediation will be the most cost effective if they are primarily directed at current and former smokers; and focusing on smoking prevention and cessation is the optimal strategy for reducing radon-induced lung cancer in terms of both public health gains and economic efficiency. Tobacco control policy is the most promising route to the public health goals of radon control policy.”
Lantz, P.M., Mendez, D. and Philbert, M.A., 2013. Radon, smoking, and lung cancer: the need to refocus radon control policy. American journal of public health, 103(3), pp.443-447.
@David Jordan: well that was interesting and not something I knew. Good luck on getting people who regularly stick a carcinogenic stick in their mouths and inhale to worry about an invisible gas! I’m sure there’ll be loads of predictable illogical nonsense spouted like nobody lives forever, I’d prefer to die before I get old, my grandad lived in a radon house and lived to be 108, the doctor says my lungs are in great shape etc.
@David Jordan: the risk of asbestosis increases similarly when exposure to asbestos is combined with smoking. Believed, but not yet proven, to be a result of the self cleaning capacity of lungs being slowed by smoking
@David Jordan: So you’re saying that the 300 deaths are ‘radon-related’ not purely due to radon poisoning….? Hmmm …. Where have I heard that before …?
@Sean: No, it’ll just give you one more thing to worry about, while you stare at the ceiling at 5am ….
The interactive map is not helpful. Not clear at all.
@Colin Fox: you can pinpoint down to your address or eircode. Anything not yellow, so orange or darker is a risk. Seems pretty clear?
So even without nuclear power we are one of the most radioactive countries :)
@Gavin Tobin: The radon map in the article is from 2002, it’s very rough. Here’s a better radon map, it’s based on radon testing in homes:
https://i.imgur.com/zXFcpjR.png
It’s from:
Elío, J., Crowley, Q., Scanlon, R., Hodgson, J. and Zgaga, L. 2018. Estimation of residential radon exposure and definition of Radon Priority Areas based on expected lung cancer incidence. Environment International, 114, 69–76.
There’s also the Tellus airborne geophysics survey that measured the amount of uranium, thorium and potassium in soils. They used it to produce a nice radon map too:
https://radonjournal.net/index.php/radon/article/view/4358/11203.
It’s not finished yet, but looks very good so far.
I live in a bungalow built early 80s with suspended flooring. I bought a radon device (airthings) monitoring our level in becquerel constantly. Level can go quiet high in winter during rainy days so long term reading is needed. Remediation is simple and relatively inexpensive but depends on your house. All modern houses must be built on a radon membrane. For older houses, you need passive or negative ventilation and the use of a radon vent might be required. Get your house tested but best is winter time. level under 200bq/m3 are ok but best if you can keep it as low as possible
@Eric Vdc: It can be quite tricky to reduce radon levels in a house with suspended timber floors. Drilling additional air vents may work. But you could try it first and if it doesn’t work you could install a fan to one of the vent holes. You should blow air in rather than extracting. You need to make sure not to blow too much air in or you will chill the house. https://www.ukradon.org/information/reducelevels
You can DIY for no more than 300 euro (radon fan kit) Eugene from allclearradon.ie was very helpful explaining how to mitigate my house couple of years ago.
You mentioned a free test for high risk areas but I can’t find info on that anywhere.
@David McGrath: info on tests here
https://www.epa.ie/radiation/meas/radon/services/apply/
@David McGrath: There hasn’t been free tests in Ireland in the last 15 years. However you can get a radon test for €40 from one of the companies is the EPA registered list. Fantastic value for the service.
How do you prevent a gas?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: we had to put in a radon shield when we built in 1999 as part of the planning permission, can’t prevent the gas but can prevent it coming in.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: don’t breath while indoors
@Trish O Dea: “can’t prevent the gas’……. EXACTLY. The headline writer needs a good rollicking.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Very true
I live in an estate with 29 houses. We moved in late 2008 and in 2010 all houses were tested as its a very high risk area. My house was the only 1 of 29 positive for radon.
Radon will kill you eventually if the levels in your house are high. Get it tested, it’s cheap and easy to fix. Radon is only a problem if you ignore it. http://Www.radon.ie
This map is not very helpful. I’ve seen a better one in which the high radon areas are much more realistically shown. They don’t all fall neatly into these squares. E.g. in the area I live which is inside one of the safest sqaures on this map, there are in fact streaks of rocky countryside where radon is quite high.
@Mim Cotton: The maps are only a predictive tool and should not be used to decide whether a house should be tested or not. The house with the highest level in Europe is in a grid square near Castleisland which is rated as a low radon area. Don’t trust the map, testing is cheap. Get your house tested.
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