City Council on Board with Radon Awareness
Prince George, B.C. – The results are in and radon awareness should be on everyone’s radar.
The results of the largest study ever done in Canada, including in Prince George (Jan. 2014-Spring 2014 – 2,000 homes) were presented to Prince George City Council last night.
Britt Swoveland, program manager, RadonAware and Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall – photo 250 News
“About one in three homes tested above the Health Canada guideline here in the community,” said Britt Swoveland, program manager with the BC Lung Association’s RadonAware Program.
“And so we want to engage with the local government here to see if they can help us out a little bit with raising awareness and a little bit of education beyond what we’ve done.”
She says the stakes are high. “It is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada and number one among those who have never smoked. There are about 3,200 deaths each year in Canada related to radon exposure.”
City Council was unanimous in its support of the issue with a promise from Mayor Lyn Hall to proclaim November Radon Awareness Month.
There was even a pledge by Council to work with RadonAware to possibly label all radon vent pipes in new homes.
You can purchase a radon testing kit at radonaware.ca.
Comments
So why are we hearing about this again? It comes and goes.
One period we heard about this was about 15 years ago. At that time the City sent around notices with the utility bills. Test kits were free then, I believe.
Then, in August of 2012 it was discovered that the Nechako is supposedly the radon source – every the Nechako flowed before it receded would have high levels of radon. They sold test kit ($9.95) …. Nice of them to sell something which should be free, in my opinion. Medical services covers flu shots as a preventative measure, so why not radon tests as a preventative measure?
So, this looks like the third time around. Why did the concern ever stop? How long will it hang around as the flavour of the month this time? When will some effective action be taken with homes which were not built under the new codes?
Finally, is this like the VW exhaust issue? Preventative methods may be in the building code but does anyone ever enforce it?
And how many died from the Atomic testing in the 50th and 60th and beyond , our so called Friends in the South and the Russians did not Care a bit, one Nuke after the other, any Test Kits for that!
Oh look! Another photo op for Hall!
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