Environmental health Indoor air pollution: radon

Environmental health

Indoor air pollution:

radon

Introduction: 

Air pollution occurs when harmful or excessive quantities of substances including gases, particulates, and biological molecules are introduced into Earth's atmosphere.

We usually think of air pollution as being outdoors, but the air in your house or office could also be polluted. Sources of indoor pollution include.

Usually indoor air quality problems only cause discomfort. Most people feel better as soon as they remove the source of the pollution. However, some pollutants can cause diseases that show up much later, such as respiratory diseases or cancer as Radon.

1.     What is radon?

Radon is a chemically inert, naturally occurring, radioactive gas. It has no smell, color, or taste, and is produced from the natural radioactive decay of uranium, which is found in rocks and soil.

Radon gas escapes easily from rocks and soils into the air and tends to concentrate in enclosed spaces, such as underground mines, houses, and other buildings.

Radon is a gas, which exist in our environment (home, building, soil…), it is a dangerous gas caused a serious disease and effect in the public health of people, because of the long exposed on this gas. 

2.     Sources of Radon: 

 

ü  Soil;

ü  Well water;

ü  Building materials;

ü  public water;

ü  Indoor air:

3.     Health effect of Radon: 

Exposure to Radon in home and work place is one of the main risk caused many death from lung cancer around the world. In home many people in the world are breathing and drink water contain Radon every day.

Because Radon do not have smell, taste or color, cannot know if the person is exposure to Radon and there is no symptom of Radon exposure. Exposure to a high level of Radon put the person at risk of developing lung cancer.

To know if you are exposure to Radon you perform a Radon test in your home.

4.     Prevention: 

A good risk communication strategy should create the basis for behavioral change and provide clear actions for people to take. There no way to prevent your home from exposure to Radon, in fact Radon exist in the environment and many place that you cannot do anything to remove this risk.

Health effect of Radon take many years to appear so you cannot know if you are exposure to Radon, the only way to know it to perform Radon test in your home. There are proven mitigation methods to reduce radon levels. A radon mitigation system uses ventilation to reduce radon gas concentrations in the air inside your home.

There is some way to make a low level of Radon can you exposure to it. First, if you are going to build your house and want to make it free from Radon and its impacts. You will building a passive radon control system. You would have to get professional’s help to get things done.

If it happen you brought a house from someone else who do not did a Radon control system, first you have to do Radon test to know the amount of this gas in the house two things are important :

v  You have to use a layer of high-density polyethylene plastic, make the Radon cannot enter to your home,

v  Heat Recovery Ventilation, make sure that the Radon gas go out of your home and you are not breathing it in a high level.  

Conclusion: 

Radon is a dangerous gas that caused many deaths every year in the world, after the exposure to it and after years, the exposure have risk to lung cancer and death in the end.

In this case must every person know about this gas, his effect on the health, by use media and social media to make sure that everyone can know Radon.

 The government and the world organization have to make some protocol and prevention way to protect people against Radon, in home and work place with a simple way for every person in the world.

Full Text

References
1- http://www.voipsecurityblog.com/prevent-radon-gas-house/
2- https://www.nationalradondefense.com/radon-information/radon-symptoms.html
3- https://www.epa.gov/radon/health-risk-radon
4- World health organization (https://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/env/radon/en/)
5- https://academic.oup.com/rpd/article/157/3/392/1603233
6- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution
7- https://medlineplus.gov/indoorairpollution.html