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monitors is persuasive. The RadonEye from Ecosense is a particularly precise and accurate example, which is remarkably user friendly. A principle reason to choose continuous monitoring is that radon levels in homes can vary dramatically from season to season, making long term testing crucial. [Ref. 12] The RadonEye reports via Bluetooth BLE to either an Android or iOS smartphone app that allows visualization of data over days, weeks, and months. A short-term measurement is insufficient to capture the full annual range (largely driven by internal/external temperature and air pressure differential. Having said that, the RadonEye offers an unprecedented data rate (updating measurements every 10 minutes) owing to its 30 CPH/pCi/L (counts per hour per pico-Curie per liter) sensitivity. The data rate allows the attentive user to draw correlations to their ventilation behavior.
What Else Can We Do?
Given the costs borne directly or indirectly by all of us, one might rightly ask how much more can be done in promoting residential radon testing and mitigation activities?
The most cost-effective measures undoubtedly focus on education and communication. For instance, as part of patient intake, electronic heath records initiatives, Medicare annual physicals, and the like, we are generally asked about our smoking history. What if whether one’s home has been tested also commonly becomes part of such questionnaires? General practitioners need to be at the forefront of education on radon. Can more with done with pamphlets in waiting rooms-- possibly bearing discount coupons for detectors? How many people know that radon mitigation projects can be tax deductible if their doctor so advises?
One might think it in the interest of private health care insurance companies to reduce costs by incentivizing their insureds to reduce radon risks. However, given the nature of lung cancer, investments made by health insurers today (say in terms of rebates or reduced premiums upon evidence one’s home is tested) may have a decades long time lag prior to paying off in reducing their costs.
Lobbying for additional government regulation may be a logical way forward. Testing upon the transfer of title to homes is already practiced in 29 states. [Ref. 13] Requiring testing of schools, public buildings, and workplaces may make sense if bounded by some logical criteria. There are numerous resources for identifying legislation and the responsible agencies within individual states. [Ref. 14]
Non-profits and foundations may be interested in setting up library programs to lend electronic radon detectors and equip schools with detectors for science projects. As of 2020, Health Canada successfully operates such programs in 52 library locations, nearly all of which experience long wait lists. [Ref. 15] Lending periods are short (3-6 weeks), which runs counter to the modern understanding of the need for long
term testing; however, the educational
testing; however, the educational opportunity presented can be used to counteract any possible false sense of security arising from short-term tests.
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