Many people I speak with are gobsmacked when they learn about radon risks. They can’t believe that radon’s risks are not more well-known. Some ask why they don’t see commercials about it, or why the government hasn’t cleaned it all up by now. I believe knowing the history of this natural household contaminant helps to understand why awareness is still so low.
The residential radon industry really began in 1984. That year Stanley Watras set off radiation alarms at a power plan in Pennsylvania.
Stanley was a construction worker. These alarms were set up to ensure the health and safety of employees–and also, ostensibly—to ensure no one stole any radioactive material. The first time Stanley set off this alarm, it was thought to be a mistake. There was no radioactive material on site–as the plant was still under construction. However, Stanley kept setting off the alarms day in and day out. Safety officials racked their brains trying to figure out why. Eventually, exasperated and out of leads, they took radiation detectors to his home.
Stanley’s home was the first home tested for radon in America. His home had over 2,000 pCi/L of radioactivity in it. Radon risk is a linear threshold. This is an incredible amount of radiation. The equivalent to a 180+ pack a day smoker. To this day, the highest indoor reading I have heard was close to 6,000. If I hear of someone above 20 pCi/L, it’s rare. Stanley had radon decay particles plated out on all his clothing. His clothing was practically nuclear waste.
In the decade that followed, scientists, contractors, and government officials convened to determine the risk to the average American. Radon risk models had already been written for uranium miners, but no one thought radon could accumulate to such high levels in a residential home. If someone like Stanley was in danger, who else could be? I call this period the first wave of the radon industry. Many of these people are still in the industry today. Their lives forever changed–just like Stanley’s. These scientists published the BIER IV Report, heavily cited to this day.
In 1993, this coalition of new radon professionals developed the first radon standards. The EPA and the surgeon general declared radon a CLASS A carcinogen and encouraged every single American household to test their home once every five years. This recommendation is still in place today.
1993 wasn’t that long ago. Jurassic Park, Forest Gump, Dumb & Dumber were all in theater. So when people ask me: “why didn’t they test for radon when I was a kid?”, I often say: they simply didn’t know about it. I liken where the radon industry is now to where the lead and asbestos abatement industries were in the 60s and 70s. The main difference is: lead and asbestos never belonged in homes. They were put their by ignorant or unethical builders or contractors. Removing these contaminants had a chain of responsibility that resulted in big money class action lawsuits and clean up campaigns. Radon, on the other hand, is part of the uranium decay chain. Uranium is one of the most plentiful elements on earth. In the American west, you used to be able to pick it right up off the ground. You can’t sue your builder for having radon in your home for the same reason you can’t sue them for having carbon dioxide. It’s simply a natural result of placing a home on soil.
The radon industry itself has spent the last thirty years writing standards and practices and attempting to get all contractors to abide by them. Any state with any type of consumer protection law has an ethical radon professional to thank. These pros got tired of seeing contractors looking to make a quick buck putting up bad radon systems or performing bad tests and leaving well-meaning homeowners unprotected and at risk. Nearly every dollar that has gone towards consumer protection and awareness legislation has come from someone directly affected by radon (typically contractors or professionals or radon cancer survivors). If you’re reading about radon because of language in your real estate contract, then thank a radon pro.
I hope this quick summary of our industry history has given you a better understanding of why radon awareness is so low. There’s no grand conspiracy; no great money trail to follow. Just a bunch of well-intentioned folks that stumbled their way into an emerging field often from some other completely unrelated profession. It makes for some incredible anecdotes at industry tradeshows.
If you’ve read this far, then I challenge you to tell three friends about radon and see who you can convince to test and protect their family. Thanks for reading!
Read the NYTimes article on the Stanley Watras Incident here
