You’ve probably never heard of it; you can’t smell it or taste it or see it, but radon gas is in your house.
In fact, radon is in just about every house, and most of the time it’s harmless. But in high concentrations it can wreak havoc on the lungs, and some Jasper homes seem to be susceptible to high concentrations of the gas.
Alan Cesco is a technical services officer at Parks Canada, and has been heavily involved in the organization’s radon testing. He explained that radon is a colourless, odourless, radioactive gas that’s produced when uranium breaks down in the soil.
It seeps into homes through cracks in their foundation, improperly sealed windows, sump pumps and other areas not snugly sealed.
“It will take the path of least resistance, like water would. So if it’s coming up out of the soil and there’s a draw into your house and a crack in your slab it will enter your house,” Cesco explained.
Since Health Canada first approached the agency in 2007, Parks has tested 53 locations in the park for radon, said Cesco, and 17 of those were at or above Health Canada’s recommended level.
He said there are a few ways to deal with high concentrations of radon gas. The most common is to install a pipe that starts under a building’s foundation with a fan that draws the gas out of the ground before it has a chance to build up inside. This is what Parks did at several of its own properties.
Once released into the atmosphere, radon is harmless, as it’s only in high concentrations that it really poses a risk to people.
While “sub-slab depressurization” usually fixes radon build up, Amy Elefson of the Lung Association of Alberta and Northwest Territories, explained that sometimes simple “quick fixes,” like plugging cracks in foundations and tightly sealing windows can fix less serious concentrations of the gas.
Although Health Canada has known about radon for awhile, it’s only recently realized just how significant the risks posed by the gas are on a person’s health.
Elefson pointed out that radon is the second most common cause of lung cancer in Canada, and the most common cause among non-smokers. This is because highly concentrated radon, like that which can build up in homes, can decay in the lungs releasing bursts of energy that damage lung tissue.
Elefson said that in other parts of the world, such as the United States, people are well aware of the risks radon poses and the importance of testing, but for some reason Canada lags behind.
It was only about four years ago, she said, that the Lung Association really started working with Health Canada to educate people about the gas and promote the idea of radon testing in homes.
“I’m not exactly sure why it’s taken so long, but slowly but surely it’s been helping. We are slowly raising awareness,” she said.
Elefson said testing a home for radon is fairly simple, and can be done with a simple test kit that most hardware stores sell. Health Canada recommends dealing with any concentration of the gas higher than 200 Becquerels/cubic metre.
Cesco said he can’t really comment on anything happening outside of Parks’ own properties, but said it makes sense for people living in Jasper to learn more about radon gas.
“I would think it is worth educating yourself and making that determination. It certainly doesn’t hurt to be knowledgeable and take the proper steps if it’s warranted,” he said.
 Trevor Nichols
[email protected]
