Word: radon
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Five days later, PECO technicians took air samples at the Watras home and discovered extraordinary concentrations of radon, a radioactive gaseous element that can cause cancer. The technicians were so startled by their finding that they ran their test a second time. The result was the same: the samples showed the house contained what turned out to be the highest concentration of the colorless, odorless, tasteless gas ever found in the U.S. The Pennsylvania department of environmental resources estimates that by living in the radon-tainted environment for one year, Watras, 34, and his wife Diane, 33, had been exposed...
Stunned by the discovery, the bureau of radiation safety at the Pennsylvania environmental resources department dispatched half of its 25-person staff to the Boyertown area, where during the past five months they have tested 1,800 local dwellings for radon. Their finding: 40% of the homes have unacceptably high levels of the gas. Says Kay Jones, 40, who lives with her husband Richard and their children in a contaminated house across the street from the Watras': "Where am I going to go? Our life savings are in our home...
...problem, however, extends far beyond Boyertown. Says Bruce Dallas, spokesman for the environmental resources department: "We're just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of impact. Radon could be anywhere." The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a million American homes may be contaminated, and in May a federal interagency task force reported that indoor radon exposure may cause as many as 30,000 deaths from lung cancer in the U.S. every year...
Discovered in 1900, radon is produced by the radioactive decay of radium, which in turn is a product of the radioactive breakdown of uranium. The gas has long been recognized as a health threat to uranium miners, who suffer abnormally high rates of lung cancer. But as a gas, radon can flow for miles underground, often rising to the surface through faults and porous rock far from any source of uranium. In fact, the Watras house is located in a region called the Reading Prong, from which larger-than-normal quantities of radon rise. The region stretches from Reading...
...spite of its prevalence, radon is not ordinarily classified as a health hazard. Outdoors, the gas disperses quickly in the atmosphere. Indoors, however, radon can build up to a deadly concentration, entering buildings through their foundations, creeping through cracks in floors, foundation walls and sewer pipes. The gas quickly decays further into other elements, including radioactive bismuth and polonium, which can adhere to dust particles, be inhaled and become lodged in the respiratory system. No immediate physical symptoms occur; radon cancers have a 20-year latency period...