Radonova Selected as the Testing Laboratory Supporting the Evict Radon Campaign in Alberta, Canada

Radon is the second most frequent cause of lung cancer, after cigarette smoking and the leading cause in non-smokers. Young people and children are more vulnerable to radiation as they have higher respiratory rates than adults. However, consumer knowledge on how to detect Radon and meaningfully reduce exposure is low.

Evict Radon is a confederation of Canadian cancer researchers and scholars founded to understand Canada’s radon problem through science and eradicate radon exposure in homes to prevent future cases of radon-induced lung cancer. This confederation encompasses Canadian medical doctors, biologists, geologists, physicists, architects, clinical psychologists, communications professionals, and population health experts with a strong track record of innovation, public outreach, and cancer prevention research.

The team innovatively combines grassroots science engagement and citizen science-based research to prevent cancers. Evict Radon is led by Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, who is the federally-appointed Canada Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease.

Dr. Aaron Goodarzi said: “It is very straightforward to test for radon. A radon test device is smaller than a hockey puck and requires no electricity. You simply place it in the lowest level of the home where someone spends more than four hours a day. Early findings from our study indicate that in rural Alberta, one in six homes are impacted. Right now, we have one Albertan a day diagnosed with radon-induced lung cancer. If Alberta were a country, it would be among the top five on Earth, in terms of radon-exposed populations.”

High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass said: “I’d heard people talking about radon gas in Alberta, but I really didn’t give it a lot of thought until my wife wanted us to test for it. Now, we’ve become advocates of testing, and I’d like to see other mayors in our province encourage their citizens to test for the gas.”

Bill Rounds, President of Radonova, said: “Radon is an invisible, odorless and tasteless gas that can accumulate to unnaturally high and dangerous levels in our homes. Evict Radon is a ground-breaking campaign, which can be used as a template to identify other regions where Radon exposure is high. This will consequently help prevent unnecessary cases of radon-induced lung cancer. As the only global ISO accredited radon measurement provider, we’re fully committed to working with Dr Goodarzi’s team to ensure the project gets accurate results in a timely and professional manner to ensure the concept can be confidently rolled out to other regions.”

For more information on radon gas, click here to watch Dr. Goodarzi’s recent Tedx talk.