Radonova Participates in Biden Cancer Moonshot Roundtable

As part of President and First Lady Biden’s goal of “ending cancer as we know it“ the Biden Cancer Moonshot is working to understand and prevent toxic environmental exposures. Therefore, the program has identified radon gas exposure as critical to their mission since it is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking.

The roundtable began with a series of brief presentations from the Centers for Disease Control, the Portland VA Research Foundation, and the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.

The discussion then focused on barriers to collecting and sharing radon data, how to improve the radon data ecosystem, and ways that the government, advocates, and private sector can use actionable radon data to prevent lung cancer and improve early detection. The conversation touched on topics such as lung cancer screening, data privacy, data integrity, socioeconomic factors, and the differences among states in radon data reporting requirements.

“As a radon test manufacturer and lab, I was glad to be included in this roundtable. It is a tremendous national challenge to streamline and analyze the amount of radon test data in the United States,” says Zan Jones of Radonova, Inc. “Equally as challenging is determining how the data can be organized in a way to increase radon awareness and used meaningfully to prevent lung cancer.

Cancer Moonshot
The Cancer Moonshot was launched in 2016 by then Vice President Joe Biden. It was reignited by President Joe Biden in 2022 targeting the reduction of the cancer death rate by 50% in the next 25 years and to improve “the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer.”

Radon and lung cancer
Radon is an odorless and colorless radioactive gas released during the natural decay of uranium in soil and rocks around homes, schools, and workplaces. It enters homes through cracks and other openings in the foundation, such as sump holes or drains.

Radon exposure is the number one cause of lung cancer in people who have never smoked and the number two cause of lung cancer nationwide, according to the EPA. It is responsible for approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States.