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The A-B-C's of Radon
 Radioactive gas formed in the ground from the decay of uranium, radon is the number one environmental hazard. Since there are trace amounts of uranium in all soil radon is found all over the planet.
Most of the gas stays underground, but a small percentage makes it to the surface. Most of the radon is diluted in the atmosphere to very low concentrations, but it can build up to high concentrations in some buildings.
The amount of radon reaching a house (or school or office building) depends upon the amount of uranium in the ground and on how easily the gas can travel through the soil.
Once at the foundation of a building, the soil gas in drawn inside by small pressure differences, as there are always some cracks and penetrations in a structure.
 Buildings are all unique and each one sits on its own piece of ground. The only way to know what the radon levels are inside is to measure them. Two houses side-by-side can have totally different radon levels.
Measurements are easy to do and can be either short-term (two to seven days) or long-term (three months to a year).
The short-term measurement gives a screening 'snap shot' of your radon levels, while a long-term measurement captures the seasonal variations and lets you know what levels you are actually living with.
 Cancer of the lung is the health hazard of radon. High levels of radon have been shown to give the lungs enough radiation dose to increase the risk of lung cancer.
In fact, radon is the number two cause of lung cancer in the world. The risk can be avoided by testing and then lowering radon levels.
The good news about radon is that it is easy to fix the problem—a typical house can be fixed in one day.
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