If you are awake, you see smoke. You smell smoke. Smoke detectors, if they are working properly, will warn us — whether we are awake or sleeping.
You cannot see radon. You cannot smell radon. Radon does not trigger alarms to wake us up. Nor does radon have an immediate impact on a person's life, as smoke inhalation does.
But radon is every bit as deadly—in fact—it’s deadlier.
Radon kills 21,000 people in the U.S. each year—which is more than five times the number of people killed by fires, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Please. Test your home for radon. And, if a problem is discovered, mitigate it. Radon mitigation is relatively inexpensive and can save real lives.
Yes, install a smoke detector in your home or test the batteries on your smoke detector. But, also, test your home for radon.
You may not be recognized for the heroics of saving the lives of loved ones.
But you will be a hero, nevertheless.
Dusty Donaldson is executive director of the Dusty Joy Foundation (LiveLung), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a focus of advancing lung cancer awareness, early detection and compassion for people impacted by lung cancer. Dusty co-authored the book “The ABCs of Lung Cancer for Patients and Advocates.” She is President of the Lung Cancer Action Network (LungCAN) and serves as a reviewer for lung cancer research proposals. She is a contributing writer for www.lungcancer.net and serves on the National Lung Cancer Roundtable’s Survivorship, Stigma & Nihilism Task Group. Prior to being diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer in 2005, Dusty was a journalist and public relations professional with undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism.
###
43