Gas a Leading Cause of Lung Cancer : Radon Feared Threat to Million Homes

The young father was asking about radioactive radon gas, and William E. Belanger’s voice was calm, comforting--and terrifying.

“Do you have children?” the federal Environmental Protection Agency radiation expert asked his caller, pulling out his calculator. “Well, they’re running a risk, let’s see . . . ahhh, they’re running a lifetime risk of lung cancer in one year. So that’s about doubling the normal risk. . . . Yes, that’s right, doubling their risk of lung cancer. In the first year, right. After that it goes up.”

Later, after advising the caller to send his children to a relative until home repairs could be made, the slim, boyish 41-year-old official turned to a visitor and shivered.

“He’s got 50 times the acceptable radon levels in his living room,” Belanger said softly. “And he’s in Easton, an area we haven’t even looked at yet.”

Belanger’s anxiety reflects a growing national concern over the hazards of radon, a colorless, odorless and tasteless natural radioactive gas that the EPA now believes threatens more than 1 million homes in at least a dozen states from Maine to Montana.

Radon gas is created by the decay of uranium in granite and shale. The gas seeps into homes from faults in the rock, or in some cases from uranium tailings used as fill or in building materials. Harmless in the open air, radon forms particles that cause lung cancer if breathed over a long time in an enclosed environment.

Although little epidemiological data is available, radon contamination is believed to be the biggest cause of lung cancer after smoking and the leading cause among nonsmokers, according to testimony in Washington Thursday before a House Science and Technology subcommittee.

“No scientist disputes the fact that our radiation risk from radon in homes far exceeds that from all other radiation risks in our society combined except, of course, for nuclear war,” said Bernard L. Cohen, a professor of physics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Cohen said residents in Harrisburg, Pa., “get more radiation exposure every day than they got in total from the Three Mile Island accident.”

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements reported to Congress last year that radon causes about 8,800 deaths a year from lung cancer. EPA estimates run from 5,000 to 20,000 deaths a year. About 120,000 Americans die from lung cancer a year.

Sensitive Questions

The concern extends beyond the obvious health threat. Federal and state officials are grappling with sensitive policy questions of whether and how the government can and should help people inside their own homes. The Superfund hazardous-waste cleanup program does not cover naturally occurring dangers.

In addition, builders and architects in some states are re-evaluating years of energy-efficient home designs. Utility officials also are considering their potential liability for helping millions secure their homes against the weather by airtight caulking and sealing, thus reducing ventilation and increasing the radon threat.

After months of internal debate, the EPA has proposed a five-year, $11-million national program to survey radon contamination around the country and set national guidelines on exposure and mitigation. The proposal is now before the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Kay Jones, a 40-year-old mother from Colebrookdale Township outside Philadelphia, was one of several anguished homeowners who pleaded before the Washington subcommittee for federal action.

23 Packs of Cigarettes

She said her three children, aged 11, 13 and 18, had been exposed to the radon equivalent of smoking 23 packs of cigarettes a day for the last nine years.

“As mothers we are devastated,” Jones said. “As homeowners we are angry and frustrated. As citizens we are approaching you and begging for a solution.”

So far, most attention has focused on more than 250,000 homes above the so-called Reading Prong, a narrow geological belt that underlies densely populated portions of northeastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and southern New York.

Free Radon Testing

On Thursday, Pennsylvania became the first state to offer free radon testing and $3 million in low-cost loans to an estimated 20,000 homeowners threatened by the radon in four counties. The money would help repair homes to rid them of the gas.

“Although radon is a national problem, we simply can’t wait any longer for development of a national program,” said Gov. Dick Thornburgh in announcing the program in Harrisburg. “Our citizens need help now.”

Pennsylvania Case

Although the EPA has recognized radon as a hazard for at least 10 years, the current concern grew after a 34-year-old nuclear engineer named Stanley Watras set off radiation alarms in December, 1984, when he reported for work at the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant, about 20 miles from his home in Boyertown, Pa.

Investigators determined that Watras’ four-bedroom, split-level home had 675 times the safe radon levels.

“They had a 99% chance of getting lung cancer over a lifetime,” Belanger said. “That’s the worst case we ever found. That doesn’t mean it’s the worst that exists.”

The Watras family was able to return home last July 4 after a $32,000 cleanup by the Philadelphia Electric Co. In most cases, “radon proofing” to fix foundation cracks, loose slabs and pipes and provide adequate ventilation can cost $500 to $10,000 per house, officials said.

In recent months, Pennsylvania has tested 3,499 homes, finding 40% with radon levels above those that federal regulations allow for uranium miners.

New York Testing

Next month, New York state will begin testing in 2,000 homes. More than 2,500 anxious homeowners, real estate dealers, mortgage-lending institutions and others have called a New Jersey radon hot line in the last month.

“People are panicking because they just don’t know what’s out there,” said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.).

Significant radon contamination also has been found in Maine, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Tennessee, Florida, Montana, Washington and Oregon, officials said. Representatives from 17 states attended an EPA conference in Harrisburg on radon last March.

Other state action apparently has been limited so far. Florida has passed legislation to require radon inspections for new houses, and several other states are considering similar legislation.

Pollution Program

The Senate recently passed a $3-million indoor air pollution research program, and a House science committee recently adopted a similar bill.

In Portland, Ore., the Bonneville Power Administration has given free radon detection kits to 10,000 homeowners in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and western Montana, spokesman Philip Thor said.

The federally run power marketing agency also completed an aerial map of California and the Northwest last year that outlined potential danger spots where radon or radium is present in topsoil.

Potential danger spots include San Jose, Santa Cruz, Mariposa, Fresno, Bakersfield, San Bernardino and Needles. John P. Millhone, director of buildings and community systems in the Department of Energy, cautioned that the map was only “a good first step” to identify possible radon “hot spots.”

“These are the areas we should be looking at,” Millhone said. “The next step should be testing homes.”

Times staff writer Maura Dolan in Washington also contributed to this report.