financial sustainability. In California, for example, there is no state funding
specifically set aside to help school districts pay for testing [33]. One of the
approaches to reduce radon testing costs to the school could be allowing school
employees to take a one-day radon test training and be exempt from certification
requirements; alternately, after training, school employees in the same district could
jointly form a radon testing team, therefore schools could conduct initial testing on
their own. When initial tests results raise an alarm, the certified professionals would
then be called in for a follow up testing, as has been done in New Jersey and Illinois
(Table 1).
In addition, each state should establish a designated Fund as a non-lapsing
supplement to support radon testing, educational, and mitigation. For example, in
Indiana (Radon Gas Trust Fund) and Maine (Radon Relief Fund), statutes allow the
States to collect funds received from registrations of radon testing and mitigation
companies/professionals, as well as any other miscellaneous sources of income to
be used for a radon related program.
6. Conclusions
The danger to children attending schools with high levels of radon is particularly
noteworthy because such children would be exposed repeatedly over many years.
They would also be exposed during a biologically susceptible time of life and
would subsequently have many years during which cancer may develop and have a
clinical impact (a long ’’latency’’ periods). To date, however, the issue of radon in
schools has received little attention by researchers and the media. There is currently
no enforceable Federal limit for radon levels in schools, which has led to disparate
state regulations related to the testing, mitigation, and public dissemination of radon
levels, as well as the appropriation of state funds when mitigation is needed.
From a public health perspective, radon reduction is a long-term objective.
Widespread awareness among the general population about the risk associated with
radon is essential [34]. It is also critical to improve the data collection system in
each state to make data more accessible to advocates for radon testing, to societal
stakeholders, and to the general public [24,35]. The improvements in data collection
and availability will be valuable for future campaigns and for determining where
collaborative efforts are most needed [35]. Measuring and mitigating radon at
schools should be based on ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable), the
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