ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The problem with radon — a naturally-occurring, odorless, colorless radioactive gas — is when it’s trapped in an enclosed space, Chrysan Cronin said Friday.
“It just keeps accumulating and increasing and increasing and increasing to the point where you're inhaling it whenever you're in that space,” said Cronin, associate professor and director of public health at Muhlenberg College. “And, over time, those radioactive particles start to mutate your DNA in your lungs and that is what causes cancer.”
This month, marked as National Radon Action Month, as well as Radon Action Month in the commonwealth, Cronin has launched a campaign to inform residents about the health risks of radon, as well as improve access to testing and mitigation. Funded through a $25,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant, the effort through Radon Lehigh Valley is the latest step in almost a decade of Cronin’s targeted research to improve public health across the region.
The project has been in the works for several years, slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cronin, along with six students, in 2017 interviewed city residents over a span of three or four months, asking if they had heard of radon and, if so, what they knew about it.
“What we found was in the zip codes where people were predominantly identifying as Hispanic, primary language of Spanish, lower socioeconomic status, lower education level and renters were much less likely to have ever heard of radon than their counterparts in other zip codes,” she said. “So, we started working on strategies to address those issues.”
As part of this month’s campaign, 10 LANTA buses and bus shelters were outfitted with signs that include “RADON CAUSES LUNG CANCER” in bold lettering, as well as “Test your home. Save a life” with a symbol for radioactive material inside a home. There is also an insert inside some buses with similar information.
“They're green and black and they have a quick message,” Cronin said. “The grant is covering more outreach and education, but it's also covering some testing and mitigation of rental properties.”
Residents can sign up to order a free radon test kit here.
Radon in the Lehigh Valley
The highest radon levels ever recorded in Pennsylvania was less than a decade ago, right here in the Lehigh Valley.
In October 2016, a vacant Upper Saucon Township was found to have radon concentrations at 6,176 picocuries per liter of air, or pCi/L. It was only two years after the township set the previous statewide record when a home tested at 3,715 picocuries per liter.
Decades before that, in 1984, it was a Boyertown, Berks County, home that set off alarm bells nationwide, alerting the public to the dangers of radon.
A employee at the Limerick nuclear power plant in Montgomery County set off the radiation monitoring devices, according to previous reports. But the radiation wasn't from the plant — it was from the worker's home, which had radon levels at 2,700 picocuries per liter.
The EPA’s threshold is 4 pCi/L.
The commonwealth is prone to high radon levels because of its geology, state officials said — the hazardous, cancer-causing gas has been detected in all 67 counties.
“In 2014, a number of homes in the southern Lehigh County area were found to have radon levels over 1,000 pCi/L,” state Department of Environmental Protection officials said. “That area is near the Reading Prong, a geological section of granite rock that historically has generated high levels of radon.”
Uranium decay creates radon gas, which then can get trapped in houses, schools and buildings, Cronin said.
However, there is little legal protection for homeowners, and even less for renters, who find out they have a radon issue.
There are only two commonwealth laws concerning radon, Cronin said — home sellers must disclose if they tested the property prior to sale, and radon mitigation companies must be certified by the state.
“It is not required that you test your property before you sell it, but if you have, you have to disclose it and you have to provide what the result was. But there's no law that requires you to do anything.”Chrysan Cronin, associate professor and director of public health at Muhlenberg College
“It is not required that you test your property before you sell it, but if you have, you have to disclose it and you have to provide what the result was,” she said. “But there's no law that requires you to do anything.”
There are no state laws mandating radon testing in rental homes, apartments and public or commercial buildings. However, the EPA encourages homeowners to test every two years, especially in winter when there is less ventilation.
As Cronin surveyed city residents, many argued that if radon was really dangerous, there would be laws in place to protect residents.
“That was really disheartening,” she said. “It's like, ‘If car accidents are really dangerous, they'd make a law that I have to wear a seatbelt.’
“Look how long that took.”
‘Like eight cigarettes a day’
We can’t get rid of radon altogether, Cronin said, because it's a naturally occurring gas — but testing and mitigation is available.
“Usually, levels below two [picocuries per liter] are not going to be as risky,” Cronin said. “But, once you get over four, it's equivalent to smoking like eight cigarettes a day in your house.
“Smoking magnifies the effect of radon. So, if you're living in a space or working in a space with high radon levels, and you are exposed to either firsthand or secondhand smoke, that magnifies your risk of getting lung cancer by 20 — 20 times more likely.”
Over the past few years, several municipalities across the commonwealth have adopted requirements for radon-resistant construction practices, including one in the Valley.
“They’ll put a covering beneath the foundation, like an impermeable seal, so the radon can't seep into the foundation and they'll also put in a radon pipe,” Cronin said. “All a radon exhaust system is is just a PVC pipe that goes from under the foundation up through the house and out the roof. A little fan exhausts all the radon from under the foundation up through that pipe and into the air through the roof.
“But Easton requires that in all new construction — Bethlehem and Allentown do not.”
The DEP has radon testing data organized by zip code on its website. Zip codes entered for the Valleys major cities — Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton — show radon levels both above and below the federal safety threshold.
Residents can check their zip code here.
