An Evict Radon National Study Citizen Scientist Radon Test Kit
Business events inspire new research questions
Business events, such as the annual Canadian Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists( CARST) Conference, serve as catalysts for fresh collaborations.
“ Hearing the experiences of people working in this sector to reduce radon in houses really helps us develop new projects of interest,” says Goodarzi.
One such project is investigating radon exposures amongst professionals whose work takes them into other people’ s homes— such as real estate professionals, home inspectors, HVAC technicians and radon mitigation professionals.
“ They can ' t control the radon in other people’ s houses, and sometimes, if their job is a radon mitigator, their job is to actually go into the highest [ exposure ] houses,” says Goodarzi.“ We are now asking: how does that have an impact on their health?”
To explore such questions, Goodarzi’ s team has built a specialized metallomics laboratory, which houses a mass spectrometer and metal‐free clean room at the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute.
“ Once [ radon ] is in our body, it relatively quickly becomes solid radioactive lead, a metal, which, like all lead, is absorbed by the body and retained for very long periods,” says Goodarzi.
“ We can see evidence of this radioactive lead buildup in tissue such as hair, toenails, bone.”