Adair County supervisors hear reports about radon levels

Adair County Environmental Health Director Jotham Arber said during the Wednesday, Nov. 23 county supervisors meeting that his agency has been tracking levels of Radon, a radioactive, colorless, odorless and tasteless noble gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Levels in the county are much higher than he would like.

Environmental Health received grant funding that they were able to use to do 50 free tests in each of the four counties they serve.

Arber said that as of September, the average Radon test showed a reading of 8.5, and the average is anything below 4.

“We really want it below 2 if you can get it there,” Arber said, pointing out that the reason for collecting this data is to use a non-profit based in Guthrie County to raise funds for things like Radon mitigation.

“If we have people who cannot afford radon mitigation, they could apply to this non-profit and receive [some help],” Arber said. Mitigation can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000, and many times, it can drop radon levels by 80 to 90%.

Arber said one concern that Environmental Health has is that they’ve observed a decrease in smoking in the area, but the same levels of lung cancer have remained.

“It’s anecdotal, but if you have the number one cause [of lung cancer] being smoking and that has been reduced over the last 10 years, but your lung cancer rates are still high, and you live in an area with high Radon levels, we have to do official studies to really conclusively say that, but we probably have some areas that still have some issues with Radon that are causing some of these issues and we should probably start to do something to mitigate it,” Arber said. “I think every year we’ll do a study like this to give us a local understanding of where it is.”

The Environmental Health Department plans to work in concert with area Public Health departments and media outlets to get the word out about the dangers of Radon and the resources that are available for residents to get a handle of readings in their homes.