Nova Scotians urged to test for cancer-causing radon

A simple test candetermine whether a cancer-causing gas is in your home, but many Nova Scotians still aren't aware of radon's danger and they're nottesting for it.

"The threat of radon gas exposure is very real, especially as the cold weather arrives and Canadians spend more time indoors with the windows closed," said Steve Horvath, president of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada.

The institute isa registered charity dedicated to promoting and advancing radiation safety in the workplace, in the environment and in the community.

"Radon awareness is still not as high as it should be in Nova Scotia and that's been our goal to make people aware of it," saidRobert MacDonald, spokesman for the Lung Association of Nova Scotia.

"It's the second leading cause of lung cancer," he said.

"If you do the statistics on that, it's around 120 Nova Scotians each year that pass away from lung cancer due to radon."

Last year his organization gave away 200 test kits in Tantallon, N.S., a communityoutside Halifax that has extremely high levels of radon. Of those kits, 110were sent for testing. Sixty per centof thoseshowed radon levels above acceptable limits.

• Check out Nova Scotia's interactiveradon risk map.

The Radiation Safety Institute provided CBC Nova Scotia with fiveradon test kits to distribute to our audience as a way of encouraging others in the province to test for it.

Halifax resident Carly Brake participatedin the CBC News testing. She has an 18-month-old son and wantedto make sure her home is safe from radon gas.

"I was thinking to myself just the other day about the irony," she said.

"I do all these things to keep him safe:I have baby gates, I have a car seat, I make sure I try to install it properly. All these things we do to make sure he's safe and I'm not checking out something that could cause him respiratory issues."

If you spend time downstairs, you need to test

It's recommended people test for radon in the lowest level room in the house. While Brake and herfamily don't spend a lot of time in their basement, it's a different story across the harbour in Eastern Passage where Marilyn and Denis Martineau live. Their basement includes a finished family room where Denis spends a lot of time watching sports.

"We've talked about [testing] but if you don't smell it, taste it and are not aware of it, you just put it out of your mind," Marilyn said.

Radon is a radioactive gas formed naturally by the breakdown of uranium.

Health Canada says it can enter a home any place it finds an opening "where the house contacts the soil: cracks in foundation walls and in floor slabs, construction joints, gaps around service pipes, support posts, window casements, floor drains, sumps or cavities inside walls."

Home owners can buy the kits at some hardware stores or through the Lung Association, which charges$40, includingtesting.

Kits are available for long-term and short-term testing. Long-term tests take three months, while short-term tests take a matter of days. Health Canada recommendshomeowners use the long-term kits.

This year, the Lung Association gave away 500 radon test kits to people across the province.

"When it comes to your health and avoiding lung cancer, a simple $40test is something we recommend you should do," MacDonald said.

In addition to Halifax and Eastern Passage, CBC News distributed kits to people in ChesterBasin, Fall River and Tantallon.

CBC News will be reporting on those results, as well as the Lung Association's testing, when the testing is completed in three months and the results are available.

• FEATURE | High radon gas levels found in homes across Canada