‘It’s hidden’: Decaying uranium could be seeping radon into your basement

Dale Lyttle pulls a small black disk out of a paper envelope. It doesn’t look like much, but this tiny radon test kit could save your life.

“The issue with radon is that it can cause lung cancer at high levels. So long term exposure to radon could cause lung cancer. It’s the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada, behind smoking,” said Lyttle, a senior Public Health inspector with Huron Perth Public Health.

As part of Radon Action Month, Lyttle, along with every other public health inspector in Canada, is encouraging residents to test their homes for radon, which is a tasteless, odourless gas that’s produced from naturally occurring uranium in the soil and rocks.

It can enter people’s basements through cracks in foundations, floors, and walls, or through sump pump holes and other drains.

“This is something that actually is hidden, that you don’t know it’s there. So you should make every attempt to find out whether you have high levels of radon in your home. And there are experts, mitigation experts that can help you lower the radon,” said Nicola Mercer, medical officer of health for Wellington and Dufferin counties.

At last count in 2013, about 12 per cent of tested homes in Huron and Perth counties had high enough radon levels to necessitate action to remove it from their homes.

“What you really need to do, if you have high levels of radon, is to extract that radon from the basement. So pull it out via a pump and actually send it to the outside. Once the radon is in the outside around your house, it just escapes into the atmosphere. It’s not a problem at all. It’s only if you’re living and breathing this radioactive gas for long periods of time. And it actually is serious and significant,” said Mercer.

Because you can’t smell it or see it, Mercer, Lyttle, and public health experts say the only way to know if radon is a problem in your home is to get your own tiny black disk, or professional electronic device, to test for it.

“You won’t know you have it until you test for it. And test kits are widely available. They come in all different kinds of devices, but find one that is right for you and get a test and see what you’ve got,” said Lyttle.

You can learn more about Health Canada approved tests by visiting their website.