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Millions in U . S . exposed to dangerous radon , study finds
By Karen Feldscher January 22 , 2025
Nearly a quarter of the U . S . population is likely exposed to high radon concentrations linked with cancer risks , according to a new study co-authored by Harvard T . H . Chan School of Public Health experts .
The study was published Jan . 14 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and was featured in a Jan . 21 article in Phys . org . It was led by former Harvard Chan postdoctoral researcher Longxiang Li , now a professor at Emory University . Other Harvard Chan co-authors included Brent Coull , Carolina Zilli Vieira , and Petros Koutrakis .
Radon gas pollution is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U . S . and has also been linked to breast cancer , stroke , and stomach cancer . Radon gas , produced by natural radioactive decay processes in underground uranium , can migrate upwards into buildings .
Previous efforts to map radon levels and to identify communities most at risk have been based on scant data . To learn more , researchers put together a national database that included millions of radon measurements from 2001 to 2021 , and they used predictive modeling to map radon exposures across communities in the lower 48 states .