This deadly, invisible menace is even more dangerous than we thought
Your home should be the one place where you always feel safe.
But more research is proving that an invisible, odorless gas can turn our homes toxic – and lots of us won’t realize it until it’s too late.
I’m talking about radon, and for years we’ve known that long-term exposure can cause lung cancer and even kill you.
But now a shocking new study has proven that the link between radon and cancer is even worse – and more serious – than we ever realized.
And it’s never been more important to get a simple, $10 test that can keep your home safe – and maybe even save your life.
When Leona Brown was diagnosed with lung cancer, her entire family was floored.
She was a marathon runner and in the best shape of her life. But just 10 months after learning she had Stage IV cancer, she was dead.
None of it made any sense – until her home was tested for radon.
Turns out the radon levels were five times higher than what the EPA considers safe. Leona was literally poisoned by her own home – and, unfortunately, she’s not alone.
One out of every 15 homes in America have high levels of radon, which seeps in from the soil. And studies have proven that radon is a leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.
But it turns out radon can kill us in more ways than we ever knew.
Researchers from the American Cancer Society just crunched 19 years worth of data on more than 140,000 people in the U.S. And they found that even a “moderate” level of exposure to radon was enough to send your risk of blood cancer skyrocketing.
In fact, women who were exposed to high levels of the gas were a whopping 63 percent more likely to develop diseases such as leukemia.
While this increase in blood cancers was only found in women and not men, the researchers believe they know the reason why.
As the study began in 1982, women were far more likely to be the ones staying at home during the day.
Whatever the reason, it’s quite clear that radon is something that men, women and especially kids should have as little exposure to as possible.
So here’s what you need to do:
- Have your home’s radon levels tested by either buying a test kit, which sells for around $10 at any home improvement store, or hire a professional to do it for you.
- Don’t ventilate your home first. You want to be checking for the maximum levels that may be present.
- Put the test kit in your basement or the lowest area of your home.
Your goal should be to get the number down as low as possible — at a minimum below 2 pCi/L (“picocuries” per liter of air, which is how radon is measured).
To do that, you may need to hire a professional who can find out where radon is entering your home and help seal it up more tightly.
Sources:
“Radon in home now linked to blood cancers in women” Pam Harrison, May 4, 2016, Medscape, Medscape.com
