... continued from page 9. [Editorial]
By contrast, radon testing and mitigation are inexpensive, one-time interventions that prevent suffering, save lives, and preserve family stability. A test can cost
less than $30; a mitigation system, a few thousand dollars. When experts and programs are terminated, so is our nation’s ability to invest in prevention over reaction.
Communities Left Vulnerable
Freezing essential public health funding has the most severe impact on rural, tribal, and low-income communities, where access to radon testing and lung cancer screening is already limited. In these areas, residents may go years without knowing they live in homes exceeding the EPA’s action level of
4 pCi/L.
When funding is halted, radon awareness campaigns go silent, screening programs shut down, and the chain of prevention breaks. For many, the first time they hear the word “radon” is after a stage IV lung cancer diagnosis — far too late for prevention.
Rebuilding Trust and Protection
To protect Americans, we must treat
public health infrastructure as a national security priority. This means maintaining continuous funding for lung cancer prevention programs, safeguarding expert staff positions, and ensuring that public education campaigns are not subject to political tides.
Restoring these systems requires bipartisan leadership and public accountability. The cost of inaction is
not just financial—it’s human. Every cut, every delay, every frozen grant translates
to lives lost that could have been saved.
Conclusion: Prevention Is Non-Negotiable
When we undermine the very people and programs that stand between Americans and preventable disease, we gamble with our collective future. Public health does not pause for politics. It depends on continuity, expertise, and trust.
To end preventable deaths from lung cancer, we must uphold our commitment to science, funding, and compassion—even in times of uncertainty. Because once those systems collapse, rebuilding them is far harder — and the damage, often, irreversible.
###