November-National Lung Cancer Awareness Month

November-National Lung Cancer Awareness Month—is almost over as is Thanksgiving and other fall celebrations; but lung cancer lingers and doesn’t end with the calendar dates. Lung cancer doesn’t play favorites; it can happen despite your sex, age, race, religion, political affiliation, height, weight, or skin tone.  Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women according to American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, and Center for Disease Control.  An estimated 158,040 American citizens will die from lung cancer this year—more that colorectal, breast and prostate cancers combined.

Very few people are knowledgeable about a leading cause of lung cancer that may be present in their homes—radioactive radon gas.  According to EPA and other experts in the field of epidemiology, radon exposure can be the reason 21,000 or more people die each year from lung cancer in our nation.  The synergistic effect of smoking and radon gas exposure multiplies the chance of the development of lung cancer.  Elevated levels of radon gas have been found in every state in our nation.  Radon gas is emitted from the decay products of uranium in the soil and rocks beneath structures like our homes, schools, and workplaces.   Because the presence of radon cannot be detected by our human senses, the only way to know if it is sharing your environment is to perform a simple test.  Test kits can be purchased at hardware stores or online sites such as http://www.citizensforradioactiveradonreduction.org/order-radon-test-kits/.
If the radon level is elevated, the radon level can be lowered by a certified professional mitigator.    Websites showing nationally certified mitigators are:
http://www.nrpp.info/radon_measurement_service.shtml http://www.nrsb.org/find_a_professional.asp?action=go
http://www.epa.gov/radon/whereyoulive.html

This November the National Radon Action Plan http://bit.ly/1Kl424N  was released which is a combined effort of federal and nongovernment organizations to make radon reduction standard practice to eliminate avoidable radon-induced lung cancer; however, the real difference will be made when laws and regulations are passed to protect our citizens from radioactive radon exposure.  Discovering that my home had elevated levels of radon when my husband, Joe, was diagnosed with lung cancer, I educated the Illinois legislators about the danger of radon gas, and the Radon Awareness Act which was passed and has resulted in a 300% increase of homes being tested in my state.

Gloria Linnertz
618 Evansville Ave
Waterloo, IL  62298
618 830 4660
seascape@htc.net
President/Founder
Citizens for Radioactive Radon Reduction
www.Citizens4RadonReduction.org