Show Ogden Travel Books Standard-Examine- r Sunday f lurch 22 1237 Overblown or blowing home? B DYLAN LANDIS Cicada Trtune HICAGO — Bob and Mehlberg knew Im!e about the radioactive gas called radon until they tried to sell their home a in a far western suburb of Chicago Included among the routine riders in their contract — the typical inspection the usual requests that appliances get left behind — was an odd demand The buyer wanted a radon test To the Mehlbergs’ astonishment the test picked up excess radon in their basement And the buyer a New York lawyer insisted they make repairs “I was unaware of the hazard" says Mehlberg an engineer who fixed the basement himself “or I would have done this five years ago" Radon is a naturally occurring gas It drifts out of radium and uranium traces in the ground and dissipates harmlessly into the air Sometimes however it drifts from the ground into the basements of houses where it can seep into living areas and get bottled up Indoors those high concentrations can get dangerous Breathing high levels of radon over a lifetime could cause from 5000 to 20000 lung cancer deaths a year according to the Environmental Protection Agency Five percent to 15 percent of all houses the EPA estimates may have a radon problem Radon tests soon will become commonplace when houses are bought and sold some real estate agents predict Homeowners could sue builders: at least one radon suit against a builder already has been filed in Pennsylvania But despite the sudden concern some skeptics say the Radon is a colorless odorless radioactive gas that rises from underground rock formations through whole radon crisis is overblown the soil and well water It enters buildings in a number of ways For example when retired HU wwg A What's underground? physicist Harold May tested his Zd i suburban Hinsdale III home he large shallow mass of uranium-ric- h found about 10 times more rarock like the Reading Radon risk measured in picocuries per titer (pCit) and in Workdon than the Mehlbergs did Prong that stretches under parts Levets cancer and deaths thousand (WL) ing lung per persons The Mays basement family of Pennsylvania northern New Cancer with Jersey and southern New York room is contaminated Comparable Comparable rfsk deaths exposure levels State can be extremely dangerpCit WL enough radon the EPA esti1000 times mates to do the damage of ous because of the radon it More than 60 times versa outdoor risk a year 20000 chest emits About half the houses in level 4 But May who studied radon Pennsylvania appear to have exsmoker ' 100 time for 30 years at Argonne National cess radon A few have radon verge indoor Laboratory believes the EPA readings that make Harold level 20000 chest calculations are wrong He says May's air look like pure oxygen per year it takes more radon than that to How permeable is the soil? A heavy impermeable clay can constitute a risk 2 100 time 'i "I don't think there's any real block even large amounts of rasmoker versu outdoor level hazard" he says don but sandy or gravelly soil t Indeed a number of researchan open door to migrating t smoker 10 time average ers disagree with the EPA’s stangas indoor level dards EPA scientists can prove 5 time Gay can be a fbnudable barrisk only that massive rier it is one reason that houses doses of radon such as those in Georgia have so little radon 200 chest found in uranium mines can 10 time “Twelve inches of that good per year cause lung cancer They don't average outdoor old Georgia clay will stop radon 4 level know if the much smaller like a sheet of steel" say s BV k“ amounts found in houses can do Alvarez president of Air Chek risk of dying Average indoor from king cancer any damage at all a company that makes radon level But to be safe the EPA astesters sumes that all radon carries 20 chest Even the shrubbery around a Avrgs outdoor 4 level some risk per year house may increase or decrease How much of the radioactive the radon inside Either the liter of of sir Pteocune rsdon per smountj (microscopic gas seeps into a house and colroots could stea1 radon from the radon to of Estimated number 000) (out of exposure kmg esnesr death due lects into potentially dangerous soil and release it Office of Air and Radiation Protection Sourer United States Environmental Agency harmlessly concentrations depends on sevgraphic See RADON on 6D en factors all working together of threat uncertain here Jeanne heavily weighted to Salt Lake Examiner staff County so it's really more of a The state of Utah may have a Salt Lake survey than a stateproblem with radon but no one wide survey" said Dr Bernard knows how serious a problem it Cohen of the Pittsburgh project is “In both cases (paid and ranEstimates suggest between 10 dom samples) Salt Lake County percent and 20 percent of the was actually considerably above homes in Utah have radon levthe national average" els exceeding 4 picocuries per Even at that only 18 homes ter of air — the level at which fell above 4 picocuries Of the 8 measurements taken in Dav is the Environmental Protection Agency deems the radioactive County five measured above 4 In Weber County where only gas unsafe However officials admit that so few buildings in nine homes were tested none the state have been tested for ra- was above 4 picocuries — and don — it is estimated less than in fact the average reading was 200 residences have been samlower than any other county repled — that it is next to imposported in the study Still with so few of the readsible to come up with an accurate picture ings taken outside Salt Lake The reason is simple It’s lack County Cohen advises against of money making any conclusions about “To be short we don’t have an radon levels throughout Utah active program in the state beDr Victor Archer a clinical cause we don’t have funding professor at the University of But our limited data say there Utah Medical Center has apare problems with radon in this plied for two grants to study the state" said Larry Anderson di- effects of radon on lung cancer rector of the Bureau of Radiarates And Archer says radon tion Control for Utah should not be taken lightly “It is a very definite problem Says Kirk Nielson vice president of Rogers and Associates in I don't think there's any doubt Salt Lake City a firm which that radon is one of the risks we conducts radon testing “There encounter in our daily lives" is not a sufficient data base to h Archer said “People it and say that threshold backsay Utah's radon problem is sigground radiation docs no harm nificantly above the national but it's certainly not beaverage They seem to think there’s low it" something benign about nature but the radon problem is real So far the most extensive re“All houses are affected by rasearch dine on Utah comes don — there’s no escaping it — from the University of Pittsburgh Researchers there have but with respect to present stanconducted free random samples dards I would say 10 percent to on 125 homes and another 30 15 percent of the homes would Utah homeowners have paid for need to have something done about it" the tests See THREAT on 6D “The data for the state is very By MARK SAAL Standard Cost of gas measured in dollars and health By DYLAN LANDIS Chicago 1' Bed provides timely O'lcago Tebure The phone rang I pulled the covers up over my head The phone was still ringing I buried myself with pillows The phone would not stop r malty I had to answer it " said a voice on the other "Happy end I slammed the receiver down There were a few minutes of blessed lence The phone :ang again This time I let it ring itself out But then before long the ringing resumed I picked up the phone “This is your mother" the voice said “Don’t hang up on me" I said nothing "Arc you there?" she said t remained silent know you're there" she said “1 just want m wish you a happy birthday" I threw the phone to the Hour and crawV J tinder the blankets again vould hvtr my mother's voice coming out of the telephone down on the carpet The voice was distant and tinny but t could tell that she was still there reached down and pulh d the phone under the covers with me "Aren't you going to your office at all today?" my mother said nude a heaving sound “You realty should go to work" she said I said nothing “You really aren’t handling this very well are you?" she said I rolled over and tried to burrow into the mattiew "Look" she said “you should be happy about King 4i)“ cover-u-p I decided to speak “1 am not happy" keep pCi-- I At the other extreme people who work at nuclear power plants may not legally be exposed to more than the equivalent of 12 pCi-- l The EPA action level for houses is set at 4 pCi-Up to that amount is reasonably safe indoors the EPA has determined Beyond that amount homeowners should retest their homes for read more accurate J of birthday No 40 the phone rang again It was a colleague of mine who works in another city He has never called me on my birthday before But today he was calling "Happy birthday!" he said in a cheery voice The rat “How do you know it’s my birthday?" ately I said “You are not treating your 40th birthday as an occasion for celebration" she said “It’s not my 40th birthday" I said That was my new plan: denial “Bobby" she said “don't be ridiculous It's your 40th birthday Have you opened your presents?" “No" I said And that was true I figured the longer I delayed opening my few meager presents the longer I could put off accepting the fact that I was turning 40 years old "Open your presents" my mother said I was silent “I suppose know how you feci" my mother said "Your father’s birthday was last week and he wasn’t scry happy ahmt turning 72 cither" said “I have to go now" "Go to work" my mother said “Goodbye" I said I decided that if I stayeJ under the e day would come covers long enough to a merciful end But almost immedi t — then do something to the radon out The national average comes in higher at 277 pCi-- says physicist Bernard Cohen who heads the University of Pittsburgh's radon study Radon testers generally cost from $10 to $50 A common type is the charcoal bag or which sits in the lowest living area of a house for up to a week while the charcoal picks up radioactivity from the radon detecAnother is the tor which picks up the tracks of radon “daughters" or decay particles gives a reading and must sit in place for weeks or months Both types of detectors get sent back to the manufacturer for analysis which is included in the price Fortunately radon usually can be banished from a home so it probably will not hurt property values in the long run says Larry Jensen the EPA's radon COST on 6D ings Tribune Radon gas is measured in microscopic amounts called picoIn everyday terms curies smoking a pack of cigarettes a day is like living with about 15 picocuries of radon per liter of air or 15 pCi-- I the Environmental Protection Agency says Living with 200 pCi-- is like sleeping in a uranium mine Stanley Watras a Pennsylvania nuclear plant worker who bought what may be the country’s most radioactive house was living with nearly 3000 I said "How could day?" he said I forget your 40th birth- has a year to gloat have to go now" I said “What are you doing to celebrate?" he said "Are you going out to dinner?" “Goodbye" I said and hung up My brother called next "What’s wrong?" he said as soon as he heard my voice "Nothing" I said "I have to get off" “You sound terrible" he said "I'm fine" said “There’s nothing wrong with being 40" he said Easy for him to say He is 33 “You know you did this before" he He is 31) He said i "I did not" I said “Yes you did" he said “You did it turned 30“ recall" said “I do" he said “You wrote a column saying that you were not really 30 You said you were “Goodbye" I said flipped over so that I was on my baek again I stared at the ceiling I picked up the front section of the newspaper from the Boor and started to read it 1 he ty pe seemed sort of fuzzy think my eyes are getting bad I never met a man of 40 who I didn’t when you “I don't call "Mr" Am I a “Mr" now? 1 he phone rang It was my sister "Timmy just called me" she said is my brother "Iimmy said you won’t get out cf Kd" mv sister said I said nothing “You have to get out of bed sometime" ms sister said Oh veah? 1 immy |