Utahns urged to get homes tested for radon gas

Laura Longhurst gets emotional talking about her treatment for late-stage lung cancer. She never smoked and never lived in a home where anyone else did.

But she did breathe in radon gas — an odorless, tasteless, colorless poison — for years, not knowing that the homes where she lived in childhood and as an adult all contained high levels of the radioactive gas.

That same scenario is being lived by untold thousands of people in Utah who have no idea they are being poisoned, officials say. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer both locally and nationwide, after smoking. While Utah has the lowest rate of tobacco use in the nation, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Utah.

"If I had only been aware, I may have a different life today," Longhurst told reporters on Wednesday as she choked back tears. "We need action and not just awareness."

Her story was part of a press conference held in the Capitol rotunda, urging Utahns to have their homes tested for the deadly gas.

Dr. Wallace Akerley, a medical oncologist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, said each year more than 20,000 Americans are diagnosed with lung cancer caused by radon gas exposure. "That's more than die from melanoma, ovarian cancer and lots of other kinds of cancers that you hear a lot of warnings about," he said.

"The difference is, with some of those like breast cancer, most people survive and participate in marathons or other kinds of public events to raise awareness. With lung cancer, it's usually diagnosed in the late stages, and 85 percent of those with it die."

Though Akerley didn't know the number of Utahns whose cancer is caused by radon gas, he did say the risk may well be higher here, because most homes have basements with bedrooms.

The gas seeps into homes from decaying uranium in the soil, and is especially dangerous for children, whose bedrooms tend to be in the basement and "whose young lungs are at greater risk for developing cancer" than adults whose lungs have stopped growing.

As construction techniques have improved over time, homes are more likely to be well-insulated, creating negative pressure inside which actually draws the gas in through small cracks in a home's foundation, he said. But homes of any age are affected.