What is Radon Poisoning?

  We have had concerned homeowners ask questions about the health effects that they may experience after living in a home with elevated levels of radon gas. The term “radon poisoning” seems to come up a lot in their questions. 

For instance, “What is radon poisoning?” or “What symptoms are involved in radon poisoning?” 

To be clear, it’s not really poisoning that is occurring in your body when you are exposed to elevated radon levels. As radon-222 decays (it has a half-life of approximately 3.8 days) radon produces what is known as radon daughter particles, which can attach to, or “plate on to,” things like water vapor, dust, pet dander or smoke in the air. When inhaled, over an extended period of time, these radioactive particles can damage the cells in your lungs and ultimately cause lung cancer. Similar to asbestos, radon typically takes years of exposure to cause cancer. Unfortunately, this causes a lot of people to put off having radon removed from their homes. 

Simply because radon gas is not usually an imminent concern or danger, does not mean it shouldn’t be addressed quickly. Most of us spend the majority of our time at home, so being exposed to dangerous radon levels for years is pretty easy to accomplish, especially if no action is taken. Most homeowners have at least one carbon monoxide detector in their home, which is great, but what most people don’t know is that radon gas causes approximately 20,500 more deaths per year than carbon monoxide does! Similarly, everyone should also have a smoke alarm in their home, and while that is extremely important, deaths from house fires in the U.S. in 2018 were 3,655 while radon related lung cancer deaths were estimated at between 21,000 and 29,000 that same year.  If everyone is willing to purchase a carbon monoxide detector or smoke alarm for their home, what is holding them back from having their home tested for radon.