Indeed, the effects of naturally occurring radon in the home are “Open to debate” (Real Estate, Oct. 31), for an increasing body of evidence suggests there are lies, damned lies and Environmental Protection Agency statistics. Homeowners are being scared into spending billions on solutions that don’t work on a non-existent threat.
In October of 1989, EPA administrator William Reilly cited Iowa as having the highest radon of any state in the union, with 71 percent of its homes over the EPA’s “danger level,” seven times the national average exposure. Taken at face value, those numbers would suggest a lung-cancer epidemic in Iowa. Yet Iowa’s lung-cancer death rate is 13 percent below the nation’s.
The EPA reports that five Midwestern states have the highest levels of radon. Taken together, these states have twice the national average. Yet the incidence of lung cancer in these states is only 80 percent of the national average.
Colorado, North Dakota and Iowa have the highest radon levels, and their lung-cancer deaths average 41 per 100,000 of the population. However, Delaware, Louisiana and California have the nation’s lowest radon levels, but their average lung-cancer death rate is 66 per 100,000.
The exaggerated death toll and shrill radon alarms from the EPA don’t speak of measured judgments after careful study.
