Iowa in the Radon zone: Research shows dangers across the state

While listening to an Iowa Cancer Consortium presentation in 2012 on the dangers of radon and its connection with lung cancer, physician Cynthia Wolff began to wonder about her own home.

Shortly after returning from the meeting, Wolff bought a couple test kits to check the radon levels in her Northwest Iowa house and at the clinic where she worked.

The results stunned her. And scared her.

'My home was at a 40,” said Wolff, a family practice physician at the Akron Mercy Medical Clinic.

That's 10 times above the 4 pCi/L (picocuries per liter) of radon that the Environmental Protection Agency considers dangerous and the Surgeon General of the United States requires for recommended action.

Individuals exposed to radon - a colorless, odorless, radioactive noble gas - have an elevated risk of developing lung cancer. In fact, the EPA estimates that about 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States every year are caused by radon exposure, making it the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, according to the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest.

'I had mitigation done on my own home - as fast as I could get them out there,” Wolff said.

Her clinic tested at a 28, and Wolff said she had all her employees test their homes as well.

'Everyone in my office also was high - in the danger zone,” she said.

That initial sample of radon results in the Akron community, in Plymouth County, was enough to get Wolff thinking bigger. Working with Barcey Levy, University of Iowa professor of family medicine and epidemiology, the pair set out to determine whether others in Northwest Iowa were living - unwittingly - with the deadly but invisible gas.

In Iowa, the Iowa Department of Public Health estimates that about 400 deaths a year are the result of radon-induced lung cancer. That's about the same number as annual traffic fatalities in Iowa, according to the association.

And Levy said that even though the most recent research was centered on Northwest Iowa, the dangers are believed to exist across the state.

Radon is produced by the natural decay of uranium and radium in the soil, and it can enter a house through its lowest level. The entire state of Iowa, with its soil makeup, is in a 'red” zone, according to the American Lung Association.

Findings

Levy received a $5,000 award from the Iowa Cancer Consortium to distribute kits and spread awareness through presentations and questionnaires. Between January and June 2013, 746 radon test kits were distributed to homes primarily in Plymouth and Woodbury counties.

About 49 percent, or 364, of the kits produced valid test results - either because people didn't test, didn't return the results, or didn't use them correctly.

Of those valid results, 346 matched with a questionnaire and were analyzed as part of the study.

A paper on the researchers' findings is near completion, but initial results indicate that the average radon result of the 346 kits was 10.1 pCi/L - more than twice the actionable level. About 82 percent, or 284, of the homes had results at or above the 4 pCi/L threshold, according to Wolff and Levy's research.

Those results match what already is known about Iowa. It leads the nation in the percent of homes over the 4 pCi/L action level as well as in its percent of homes over 20 pCi/L, according to the American Lung Association.

'We were suspicious that we would have high numbers,” Wolff said.

Still, she said, radon isn't widely known among the general public as a problem in the state.

'It's a big problem, but I didn't know anything about it,” she said.

Red zone

Even before grant funds became available, Wolff and her colleagues started educating the community, making 12 presentations to 435 people, according to a summary of their research. Patients to the Akron Mercy Medical Clinic during the study period were informed about the dangers or radon, given a pamphlet and invited to participate in the study.

After analyzing the results, Wolff's office worked with local banks to help homeowners obtain low-interest loans for mitigation. And, Wolff said, she worked to increase the number of contractors licensed to conduct radon mitigation.

'Everyone had their homes mitigated,” she said. 'We saw trucks everywhere.”

And, Wolff said, radon levels are on the rise as homes become better insulated.

'People are more energy conscious now, and they are insulating their homes better than they ever have before,” Wolff said. 'That makes the radon stay put.”