The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland has found three homes in Mayo and Sligo with concentrations of radon gas up to 16 times the acceptable level. Nationally, radon is responsible for up to 200 lung cancer deaths per year. The RPII believes it is very likely that there are more homes in the north-west with similarly high radon levels and urges local people to test for the gas and reduce their risk of lung cancer.
The four homes, one of which is located in Claremorris, two in Tubercurry and one in Ballymote had measurements of 3261 becquerels of radon per cubic metres, 02923 Bq/m3 and 2871 Bq/m3 respectively. At these radon levels, the radiation dose to the householder would be equivalent to receiving between 2,700 and 4,000 chest X-rays each year.
Commenting on these measurements, Mr. David Fenton, manager of Radon Advice at the RPII said: “Radon has no smell, taste or colour and, because of this, people cannot tell if they have radon in their home without measuring for it. To date we have measured over 4,300 homes in Mayo and Sligo and found that roughly one in six homes are above the acceptable level. We believe that there are many more homes in these counties with high radon levels. People living in these homes are at increased risk of developing lung cancer.”
The RPII has redeveloped its website (www.rpii.ie ) so that people can now search for their address on an interactive radon map to see whether their home or workplace is in an area predicted to have high radon levels. They can find out what they need to know about radon – what it is, why it is a problem, and how they can have a measurement made. Information can also be obtained on 1800 300600.
