by: Aaron Fisher, AARST National Director, Jane Malone, AARST Policy Director
Advocates for local and state radon-control policies have a new element in their toolbox to aid with communicating radon facts and figures. Earlier this year the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (AARST) released their first-ever set of Radon Report Cards. These single-page infographics provide key radon information for each of the 50 states. The brainchild of Jane Malone, Acting Executive Director/National Policy Director, the report cards were developed and released under the auspices of the AARST Government Affairs Committee, the group tasked with enabling state-level policy efforts.
“The Radon Report cards will help communicate each state’s radon status to lawmakers so that they can clearly see the severity of their state’s radon problem, its status in terms of state policies to reduce dangerous radon exposure, and how their state compares with any and all others using publicly available, consistent data” said Aaron Fisher, Chair of the AARST Government Affairs Committee.
One key takeaway from the report card is the estimate of the radon-induced lung cancer cases for each state, along with total lung cancer incidence and mortality, as well as the rate of lung cancer cases per 100,000 persons.
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Another section addresses a state’s housing. Potential radon exposure locations are summarized by number of existing homes, additional homes built annually, and the number of public schools. The percentages of radon test above EPA’s action level of 4 pC/L illustrates the extent of radon’s burden in the state’s buildings. This data varies state-to-state and according to information gathered from the CDC National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, 36% of the radon test results are above the acton level.
The final section summarizes the status of public policy in a given state. To protect families from ineffective work, some states require regulation of radon professionals (which includes prohibition of radon work by untrained and uncredentialed personnel) and adherence to the current radon standards. Only 20 states require certification or licensing; half of these states rely on the current standards exclusively.
Other protective statewide policies presented in the report notify prospective homebuyers through a warning statement including encouragement of testing before purchasing (nine states), require radon systems in new homes (11 states) and schools (nine states); and mandate testing of existing school buildings (eight states). Although much progress has been made, there remains room for policy improvement in every state.
Each Report Card relies on national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the Census Bureau, and the National Center for Education Statistics. The use of these national sources insures validity in state-to-state comparisons. An example report card (Pennsylvania) is shown below and all the report cards can be found here:
The 2022 report cards are available for public access now and will be re-issued on an annual basis.
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