Is Radon Contaminating Your Home?
Get Our Radon Testing Kit to Ensure Your Safety
In recent years, studies have shown that high levels of radon exposure can link to lung cancer. We now know the importance of examining homes, schools, and public buildings for radon levels. MidAmerica Basement Systems is a proud member of the National Radon Defense network of radon mitigation specialists. Our professionals are certified radon mitigation experts in Illinois and Iowa.
Contact us today for more information about radon testing and our radon reduction services.
What is Radon?
Radon is a radioactive natural gas that has become the second-leading cause of lung cancer—second to cigarettes.
All across the U.S, our soil contains uranium which decays into radium and polonium. The combination of polonium and radon produces extremely toxic levels in the air and water that it saturates.
How is Radon Detected?
Unfortunately, there are no detectable symptoms of radon exposure that we can recognize without special equipment. Radon toxicity easily goes unnoticed, making it even more dangerous. In addition to being hard to detect, radon is known to cause lung cancer. However, the symptoms of lung cancer are also sometimes hard to recognize immediately.
Radon and Lung Cancer
Lung cancer kills more people annually than other most prominent cancers combined. Because it's perceived as a self-inflicted disease, unfortunately, lung cancer receives the least funding. However, unknown exposure to radon causes 15 percent of the world's lung cancer cases and kills 20,000 people annually.
A radon-caused lung cancer diagnosis is far from self-induced, affecting people who have never smoked or been subjected to second-hand smoke. Radon-related cancer kills one person every 25 minutes, putting it in the same Class-A Carcinogen group as asbestos.
Radon testing can help limit your risk for lung cancer.
Radon vs. Cigarettes
While the effects of smoking cigarettes are much more evident than the impacts of radon susceptibility, they have equally severe consequences. We measure radon levels in picocuries per liter, or pCi/L. Residing somewhere with a measurement of 1 pCi/L is equal to 2.5 cigarettes each day. Suppose your home has a reading of 4 pCi/L, which is the Environmental Protection Agency's required level for action. In that case, every resident is inhaling the equivalent of 10 cigarettes daily.
Did You Know?
That radon gas was actually a vital aspect of the gaseous makeup of the atomic bomb? Although the levels of radon that resulted from the atomic bombs far exceed the amounts of radon found in a home, the principle remains the same -- radon gas is very harmful and can be deadly!
Radon vs. X-rays
The volume of radiation in 4.0 pCi/L of radon is equal to the radiation in 100 chest X-rays. Most clinics only allow patients to have four of these annually. Annual x-rays would only be .64 pCi/L of radiation. Our medical professionals know how toxic anything higher than this is for the human body. Radon mitigation in Iowa and Illinois is vital to the health of every household.
Make Sure Your Home is Protected
At MidAmerica Basement Systems, it's our mission to ensure the safety of our community. We offer free estimates on all our radon services in Cedar Rapids, Peoria, Waterloo, Davenport, Normal, Iowa City, Rock Island, Moline, Dubuque, Clinton, East Peoria, and every area nearby.