EPA Calls for Radon Testing in U.S. Schools

Sounding a new alarm about indoor air pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency warned Thursday that unhealthy levels of radon have been detected in the nation’s schools and urged officials nationwide to test schoolrooms for possible contamination by the cancer-causing gas.

The extraordinary health alert, issued by EPA Administrator William K. Reilly, was based on preliminary results of an agency survey that found hazardous levels of radioactive radon in more than half of the 130 schools tested in 16 states.

California’s top public health official, reacting angrily to the sweeping directive, contended that the recommendations could create “unfounded fear and anxiety” in the state, where previous studies have indicated that radon is not a major public health concern.

State Not Included

Kenneth W. Kizer, director of the state Department of Health Services, noted in a letter to Riley that the EPA study did not include any California schools and that the state’s own survey of 29 schools had not found any hazardous levels of the gas.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said Thursday that he sees no reason for alarm in California. Based on information provided to the state Department of Education by the EPA and the state Department of Health Services last fall, Honig said, school districts were advised that there was “little likelihood that radon was a problem” in most of the state’s public schools.

However, because of the latest EPA warning, Honig said he soon will be sending a letter to school districts “outlining the conditions under which schools may be exposed to elevated levels of radon” and providing guidelines for further study.

The Los Angeles Unified School District began testing schools for radon in January, chief safety officer Susie Wong said. The district placed 300 detectors in classrooms in 80 schools. The detectors were collected Thursday and will be sent to a laboratory today for analysis. The results are expected in May.

“We did our testing to find out what kinds of levels our kids are being exposed to,” Wong said. “We hope it’s not a problem, but we want to confirm that it isn’t.”

The stern EPA warning reaffirmed a statement released by the agency last autumn, when it joined Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in issuing a health advisory exhorting homeowners across the nation to test their residences for radon.

Far too few individuals have heeded that advice, Reilly declared. He said the survey of schools raises new concerns about the danger radon poses to children, who are believed to be particularly susceptible to the ill effects of the radioactive gas.

In making the health advisory public, Reilly acknowledged that it was based on preliminary and incomplete research. But he emphasized that the data collected was so troublesome and the risks so severe that remedial efforts should not be delayed until a more comprehensive survey is completed.

“The risks posed by radon gas are very real,” Reilly told the National Press Club. “But with a little thoughtful effort, we can solve this problem with relative ease.”

Critics of the EPA’s findings say they could grossly exaggerate actual radon levels because they are based on 24-hour monitoring even though radon levels ebb and flow throughout the year.

Experts call radon the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and blame it for 15,000 deaths a year.

An odorless, colorless gas, radon is produced by the radioactive decay of uranium and seeps naturally from the soil. Although it usually escapes harmlessly into the environment, the gas can reach dangerously high concentrations when contained by man-made structures.

The severity of the radon threat varies geographically according to the uranium content of the soil. For example, the EPA estimates that radon levels exceed healthful limits in 10% to 15% of American households. But a Times survey last year indicated that radon levels exceed healthful limits in only about 1.2% of Southern California homes.

In the EPA survey, 54% of schools tested--and at least one in each of the 16 states--was found to contain one or more rooms in which radon levels exceeded the EPA limit of four picocuries per liter. Exposure to that concentration of radon is believed to pose a cancer risk equal to that of smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day.

The highest reading, in a Tennessee school, was 136 picocuries--an exposure equivalent to that of a four-pack-a-day smoker.

Such health hazards, Reilly said, are “significantly higher” than the risks that the agency usually addresses in regulating such substances as pesticides.

Children are believed to face an even higher risk of exposure to radon than do adults because of their small lung capacity and high breathing rates, according to an EPA report. And because of their youth, radiation-induced cancer can develop over many years.

The EPA recommendation calls on schools to test all frequently used rooms on basement and ground-level floors, where radon most often accumulates. The agency recommended that the testing be conducted during cooler months, when doors and windows are more likely to be closed, allowing radon to accumulate more easily.

No federal funding is to be provided for the recommended radon testing, which Reilly estimated would cost a “few hundred dollars” per school site.

Only limited federal resources are available for schools seeking to eliminate radon contamination, a process that usually involves improving ventilation to allow the gas to dissipate more quickly.

In a statement critical of the EPA recommendations, California health director Kizer declared that “testing every classroom in this state would be a marked waste of money.”

The state’s survey, which took 373 samples from 29 schools in 19 counties, found radon concentrations to be below detectable limits in 59% of the samples collected. None of the schools exceeded the four picocurie limit.

Although the EPA study did not include California schools, it did monitor six sites in Nevada. The highest radon measurements there were among the lowest in the nation, tied with Indiana and Kansas. The most hazardous radon levels were found in Tennessee, Washington, Montana and New Mexico.

Times staff writers Noel K. Wilson in Sacramento and Elaine Woo in Los Angeles contributed to this article.

RADON IN CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS The California Department of Health Services tested for radon levels in 29 schools in 19 counties around the state. None of the samples exceeded 4 picocuries per liter, the level above which the federal Environmental Protection Agency recommends taking action. Below are the mean levels expressed in picocuries per liter found in schools in five Southern California counties. These readings are for a 24-hour period and do not necessarily represent actual year-around exposures. LOS ANGELES Castle Bay Lane: 0.58 Point Fermin Elementary: 0.84 Sierra Vista Elementary: 0.30 RIVERSIDE Adams Elementary: 0.37 Hemmerling Elementary: 0.25 Landau Elementary: 0.36 SAN BERNARDINO Adult Education Center: 0.53 Mary Tone Elementary: 0.99 McKinley Elementary: 0.35 Newman Elementary: 0.30 Park View Elementary: 0.28 SAN DIEGO Pomerado Elementary: 0.56 VENTURA Atherwood Elementary: 0.27 Rio Mesa High: 0.25