For Immediate Release

January 7, 2008

Contact Information:   Vicki Duey, Executive Director

Four Corners Health Department

402-362-2621 or 877-337-3573

Surgeon General’s Warning:  Radon Causes Lung cancer

The U.S. Surgeon General recommends that your home be tested for Radon.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this invisible radioactive gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer for those who currently or have smoked and the number one cause of lung cancer for those who have never smoked.   Radon seeps into your home from underground, and the only way to measure if it is present in dangerous levels in your home is to test for it.    

 Winter is usually an ideal time to test a home for radon as levels tend to go up when the house is closed tight to prevent heat loss.   Radon is present at elevated levels in about 50 % of homes tested in Nebraska.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that radon is responsible for more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths per year.   “However”, Lynda Zieg from Four Corners Health Department states “because you can’t see or smell radon, people tend to downplay the health effects and ignore the possibility that there might be a silent killer in their homes.”

Testing homes for elevated levels of radon is simple and inexpensive.  Radon test kits can be obtained from Four Corners Health Department or Butler County Health Care Center at 402-367-1200, Polk County Health Department at 402-747-2211, and Seward County Extension office at  402-643-2981, free of charge.

Four Corners Health Department urges the residents of York, Seward, Polk and Butler counties to take action during this year’s National Radon Action Month by testing their home for radon.    For more information on radon, radon testing, radon mitigation (reducing the level of radon gas through changing ventilation), and radon-resistant new construction, call Four Corners at 402-362-2621 (toll free 877-377-3573), visit the Department of Health and Human Services Radon website at http://www.hhs.state.ne.us/radon/, or visit EPA’s Website at www.epa.gov/radon.