Radon: the leading cause of cancer in people who don’t smoke

Being a lifelong health enthusiast, health educator and tness trainer — and married to a primary care physician — my family and I were blindsided by my Stage 3A lung cancer diagnosis in October of 2018. We were shocked as I had no respiratory symptoms and I have never smoked. My cancer was found incidentally while investigating what later turned out to be a benign ovarian cyst.

It wasn’t until my son, an environmental engineer, asked me if I had ever tested our home for radon when I learned that virtually anyone with lungs can get lung cancer and that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. It is the rst leading cause of lung cancer in people who don’t have a history of smoking. Considering the risk for lung cancer is high, why aren’t people exposed to high radon levels eligible for lung cancer screening? e United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends people ages 50-80 with a 20-pack year history of smoking, or have quit in the past 15 years, get a low dose CT

Letter To The Editor

Workers deserve to be paid for the work that they do. is is a simple concept and seems like common sense, but folks would be surprised to learn that there are frequent cases in which employees are not paid correctly. We refer to this as “wage theft” and Coloradans lose roughly $728 million in stolen wages, annually.

Denver City Council unanimously voted in favor of providing Denver Labor new tools to ensure that employees are paid properly. Denver City Council should be lauded for doing the work to collaboratively pass this legislation.

LINDA SHAPLEY scan, which is painless and takes only a few minutes. Based on the conversation with our son, we tested our home using methods recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency and discovered that the radon levels in our home were elevated above the threshold of 4 pico curies (pCi/L). e EPA strongly advises that any radon level at or above 4 pCi/L should be reduced through a radon mitigation system. Radon mitigation needs to be done by professionally accredited operators and most health departments — including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment — post lists of accredited mitigators.

Radon is an invisible and odorless radioactive gas that can be found in many homes. It comes from the decomposition of uranium in soil, rock and water and gets into the air you breathe. When inhaled, radon can cause serious health problems including lung cancer. About half of all homes in Colorado have radon levels above the recommended limit of 4 pCi/L.

While there is no way for me to know with certainty if radon caused my lung cancer, I want people to know it is one risk factor that can be tested for and reduced to safe levels very easily. I in Denver and want to explore further or a casual introduction to someone they nd particularly interesting. It is my freelancers’ intrigue that make papers shine each month.

My freelancers work hard, and are so dedicated to storytelling and ensuring their written word is the best that it can be for every story they write, every month. ey spend hours interviewing sources, researching information or news tips, gathering photos and in some cases, attending events.

So every time you see “Special to Colorado Community Media” in this February edition — and every month beyond — remember that it is the tireless work of one of my freelancers who brought that story to you.