The potential impact could be enormous.
Millions more homes would be tested. Elevated homes that might otherwise remain unidentified for decades could
be discovered. Families could learn about dangerous radon exposure before someone in the household develops
lung cancer.
States could also collect anonymized testing and mitigation data, helping public-health agencies identify communities with high concentrations
of elevated homes and direct education, testing resources and mitigation assistance where they are needed most.
A Mandate Must Include Financial Assistance
Mandatory mitigation, however, cannot be separated from affordability.
A law requiring a family to spend money it does not have to correct an environmental health hazard could create another form of health inequity.
A comprehensive Radon-Safe Homes Act should therefore pair mandatory testing and mitigation with financial assistance for qualifying low- and moderate-income households.
Federal and state grants, tax credits, housing programs, community - development funds, health-system investments and nonprofit partnerships could help pay for testing and mitigation.
No family should be forced to choose between continuing to live with a known carcinogen and paying a mitigation bill it cannot afford.
Make Radon-Resistant Homes the Standard
Universal radon legislation could also address the homes America has not
yet built.
Building codes could require radon - resistant new construction in areas where appropriate, making radon prevention part of the home from the beginning rather than waiting until elevated levels are discovered years later.
Over time, radon protection could become as routine as other residential health and safety measures.
From Radon Awareness to Radon Prevention
For decades, America's radon strategy
has depended heavily upon educating homeowners and encouraging voluntary testing. Education remains essential, but voluntary action alone cannot ensure
that every family lives in a radon-safe environment.
Existing laws in Maine, Rhode Island, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Florida and
local jurisdictions demonstrate that government can establish stronger
radon protections.
The United States does not have to
invent the concept from scratch.
The pieces already exist.
The next step would be bringing those pieces together into a comprehensive policy that protects people wherever
they live.
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If every state required residential radon testing, required elevated homes to be fixed and provided financial assistance to families who could not afford mitigation, America could fundamentally change its approach to radon-induced lung cancer.
Instead of discovering the exposure after a cancer diagnosis, we could identify and reduce the exposure years earlier.
Test every home. Identify every elevated home. Help families fix it. Prevent the exposure before it becomes cancer.
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