Radon, early screening and lung cancer.
By: Diane Colton
May 12, 2023
My goal whenever I write is to attempt to giveall my readersapebble to take away to help create the avalanche of change that the fight for lung cancer needs and deserves.
So here is today’s pebble!
Up here in Canada, we have some of the highest levels of radon in the world. Of the 30,000 people who will get diagnosed each year with lung cancer, over 6,000 of them are never smokers.Of the 21,000 who will lose their life to lung cancer in the next year, 3,200 of them will be the never smokers directly affected by radon. This is due to radon. We have grim statistics … These are people!! All of them matter. They come in every shape, size, age, gender, and race. Yet we still struggle to be seen, heard, and supported. We are masked behind them is information, myths, stigma, and worst of all, the apathy of those not affected by it … health and government officials. This is made worse when we specifically talk about Radon.
There are over 20 known causes and well over 20 signs and symptoms yet, the one test that could change the landscape and abysmal statistics is the one we do not have access to; early screening.Across Canada we have only one actual instituted screening program and 2 pilot programs. That is for all 13 provinces and territories. We do, however, have well-oiled screening programs for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer approved for many years. These programs have made significant changes in the survival and early diagnosis of their cancers. Unlike the barriers that are being put up for lung screening, practically anyone can get screened for them. Yes, there are some limitations but not to the extent that lung screening has. It is only the narrowest of people who can be screened now and mostly in British Columbia as the other two pilot projects are extremely narrow in scope.
We have not even touched on the wide range of individuals impacted by radon in the past, now and in the future. Lung cancer is already complex, but radon need not make it worse. It is the easiest to manage. At the University of Calgary’s Arnie Charbonneau Institute are a group of researchers led by Dr. Aaron Goodarzi; EvictRadon! https://evictradon.org are leading the charge in radon research.
The Evict Radon team is always researching the effect of radon, and how to fix it’s impact. Now they have a clinical trial which will give them the tools to measure long term exposure to radon allowing them to create a case with empirical information to include radon as a baseline for early screening, whether someone is a smoker or not.
This expansion in early screening will mean the difference between being diagnosed at an early stage as opposed to stage IV, edging lung cancer closer to being an inconvenience not a death sentence. But at the end of the day people still know very little about radon and how it can affect them. As a patient advocate that is part of my job. Spread the word, share the knowledge about radon so people can make informed decisions. You have information to be the pebble to help create the avalanche of change.
There are over 20 known causes and well over 20 signs and symptoms yet, the one test that could change the landscape and abysmal statistics is the one we do not have access to; early screening. Across Canada we have only one actual instituted screening program and 2 pilot programs. That is for all 13 provinces and territories. We do, however, have well-oiled screening programs for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer approved for many years. These programs have made significant changes in the survival and early diagnosis of their cancers. Unlike the barriers that are being put up for lung screening, practically anyone can get screened for them. Yes, there are some limitations but not to the extent that lung screening has. It is only the narrowest of people who can be screened now and mostly in British Columbia as the other two pilot projects are extremely narrow in scope.
We have not even touched on the wide range of individuals impacted by radon in the past, now and in the future. Lung cancer is already complex, but radon need not make it worse. It is the easiest to manage. At the University of Calgary’s Arnie Charbonneau Institute are a group of researchers led by Dr. Aaron Goodarzi; EvictRadon! https://evictradon.org are leading the charge in radon research.
The Evict Radon team is always researching the effect of radon, and how to fix it’s impact. Now they have a clinical trial which will give them the tools to measure long term exposure to radon allowing them to create a case with empirical information to include radon as a baseline for early screening, whether someone is a smoker or not.
This expansion in early screening will mean the difference between being diagnosed at an early stage as opposed to stage IV, edging lung cancer closer to being an inconvenience not a death sentence. But at the end of the day people still know very little about radon and how it can affect them. As a patient advocate that is part of my job. Spread the word, share the knowledge about radon so people can make informed decisions. You have information to be the pebble to help create the avalanche of change.
###
95