Local Efforts
to Reduce
Radon : isks

Highlights and
Lessons Learned

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Long-term exposure to indoor radon can be deadly. Radon is the

leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers, and second only to smoking for the entire
population. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that more than 20,000
Americans die of radon-related lung cancer every year. Radon is a colorless, odorless, naturally
occurring radioactive gas. Radon seeps into homes and buildings through cracks in the
foundation or walls, and can accumulate over time in homes that are not properly vented. The
Surgeon General issued a health advisory for radon in 2005, stating that millions of homes have
elevated radon levels. The advisory encourages everyone to test their home for radon every 2
years, and to retest after moving, making structural changes, or occupying a previously unused
level of a house. EPA recommends that people take action if they find radon at levels greater
than or equal to 4 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L). Visit www.epa.gov/radon for more
information on how to test your home for radon.

The good news is that when elevated radon levels are found they can be reduced, and new
homes can be built using easy and inexpensive radon-resistant construction techniques. EPA
encourages the building and real estate communities and all new home buyers to demand
radon-resistant new construction (RRNC).1 EPA also urges people to test their homes for
radon, and to install systems to vent radon from their homes if they find levels at or exceeding
the 4 pCi/L action level.

F

1 EPA estimates that radon-resistant techniques applied to new construction cost an average of $350 to $500, although it is important to
recognize that variability in pricing is inevitable depending on material costs, new code requirements, existing code requirements, and
locality.

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Local Efforts to Reduce Radon Risks:

Highlights and Lessons Learned

In the stories below, you will read about people who educated their families, neighbors, colleagues,
and communities, and challenged local builders, governments, code enforcement officials, and
others to protect the public from indoor radon. These stories make clear that protecting public
health from indoor radon requires a community effort. They also show that one person armed with
facts, persistence, and a commitment to health and safety can change minds and motivate action to
reduce the harmful effects of radon. EPA hopes their efforts inspire others to take action.

Illinois: School Science Lesson Inspires Students to Environmental Policy
Advocacy

Success: Teachers and Students Efforts to Reduce Radon Risks Strengthens Residential Building Permits

When Deborah Clinebell set out to teach her eighth-
grade science class in Waterloo, Illinois, about atomic
structure, she had no idea that choosing radon as the
subject would turn into a lesson about far more than
chemistry. Expanding her traditional chemistry lecture
to include information about the environmental health
effects of radon, Deborah told her students about
increased lung cancer risks when radon levels inside
homes increase. When she informed the students that 46
percent of the houses tested in their home county of
Monroe had radon at or above EPA's 4 pCi/L action
level, their overwhelming interest convinced Deborah
that an opportunity for interdisciplinary learning was at
hand.

Deborahs lesson on atoms quickly turned into an
exercise that touched on communications, broadened to
math, and spread to civics. She and her students began
by writing letters to school families about simple in-
home radon tests that convinced some 200 students and
teachers to test their homes. Deborah then enlisted the
help of her colleague—math teacher Carrie Stewart—
who, with a group of junior high students, compiled and
analyzed the radon data. They posted the test results
online so that other math and science classes could
retrieve them. Armed with their own real test results and
spreadsheet software, the students learned how to
statistically analyze data. And they learned something
about the scientific method and repeatability when their
results showed that 34 percent of the homes they tested

for their project had radon levels above 4 pCi/L, con-
firming the previous finding that radon is a serious issue
in their community.

Deborah and Carrie
were also acquainted
with the National
Center for
Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA)
at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. They
knew that the NCSAs
Education, Outreach,
and Training Division
develops programs for
educators, engineers,
and scientists to help
them disseminate
advanced technologies
as learning tools in

K-12 schools. Recognizing that the students' growing
interest in radon issues perfectly fit with the Center's
mission, Deborah and Carrie initiated a partnership with
the Center, which gave the eighth graders access to a
geographic information system (CIS). This CIS technol-
ogy enabled the students to create maps of their survey
area and actually see how the radon concentrations were
distributed.

Deborah's students



showed an



overwhelming interest

in her assignment. Her

lesson on atomic



structure quickly



turned into an exercise

on communications,



math, and civics.



I

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Encouraged by their results and the continued enthusi-
asm of their teachers, a team of students at Waterloo
Junior High decided to compete in Project Citizen, a
national civic education program open to fifth through
eighth graders. Coordinated in Illinois by the Constitu-
tional Rights Foundation of Chicago, Project Citizen
provides students with an opportunity to learn how to
monitor and influence public policy and promotes civic
participation among students, their parents, and mem-
bers of the community Eric Major, a Waterloo's civics
teacher, coached the students and helped them develop a
proposal to require that short-term radon tests be
conducted in all homes before they are sold. Eric
presented the students' proposal to the Mayor ofWater-
loo. Impressed with their analysis, presentation, and
excitement, the Mayor referred the students' draft
proposal to the Waterloo Health Committee. Upon the
Committee's recommendation, the Mayor officially
passed a resolution on November 1, 2004, affirming that
the town of Waterloo understands the risks of radon and
recommends short-term radon testing. After a second
year of testing, another Project Citizen team prepared an
even more ambitious proposal, which Eric also presented
to the Monroe County Board of Commissioners. The
students' proposal was unanimously approved and, as a
result, all residential building permits in Monroe County
include two new elements about radon: (1) information

about the health risks of radon and (2) recommenda-
tions for building new homes using Radon Resistant
New Construction (RRNC) techniques.

Their understanding of the health risks of radon and the
inspiration of a chemistry teacher, a math teacher, and a
civics teacher made a big impact on the learning experi-
ence of junior high students in a small town in south-
western Illinois. Deborah Clinebell, Carrie Stewart, and
Eric Major recognized and took advantage of the
valuable educational opportunity that the radon issue
provided. Through their NCSA partnership, Deborah
and Carrie developed a Web-based learning module that
junior high school science and math teachers across the
country can replicate. They helped NCSA design a
customizable lesson plan that schools can use to analyze
residential radon levels in their local communities. Their
module teaches students to apply the scientific method
to gather data; design data analyses to answer a specific
scientific question; use computer technology to analyze
the data (spreadsheets and CIS); post data to an online
database for sharing; and create a visually effective
presentation of the results. The Waterloo Junior High
experience that began as a simple lesson on atomic
structure demonstrates how enthusiastic teachers and
students can educate their communities and influence
public policy to reduce radon-related health risks.

Habitat for Humanity: One Woman Changes Policy to Include RRNC for New Homes

Success: A Popular, Influential Charity Now Provides Education and Support to Reduce Radon Exposure

Jennifer Langton is the Environmental Resources
Specialist at Habitat for Humanity International. She is
also a champion of RRNC. Jennifer's introduction to the
health risks of radon occurred when she read about a
new Habitat program funded by EPA, the Healthy
Homes Program. The program's goal is to educate
construction staff and homeowners about indoor air
quality and health issues, including the critical subject of
radon. The connection between Habitat's commitment
to provide decent and affordable homes and the need to
keep homes safe by preventing indoor radon risks was
immediately apparent. And so began Jennifer Langton's
quest to educate herself and the Habitat community
about radon.

Jennifer's search for radon information began much like
that of any other person interested in environmental
issues—she contacted EPA. She learned that certain

geographical areas tend to be at greatest risk. She also
learned that an EPA regional radon training center was
located in her backyard. The Southern Regional Radon
Training Center (one of four across the United States)
offers training for builders, realtors, architects, and
others in the home building business on radon measure-
ment and abatement. Jennifer arranged for the center to
present information about radon and RRNC to Habitat
volunteers and staff in the region. She also developed
her own slide presentation that she uses when teaching
Habitat construction staff around the country to
recognize the importance of properly installing radon
mitigation systems. She supplements her own presenta-
tion with technical information on proper installation
from EPA and other sources .

Jimmy Carter's Work Project in Anniston, Alabama, was
one of the first Habitat projects to benefit from Jennifer's

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efforts to reduce radon risks. Knowing from her research
that parts of Alabama have a particularly high risk of
elevated radon levels, Jennifer contacted the Anniston
project's Special Projects Manager—Scott Montjoy—to
find out whether the project had considered radon as an
issue. Scott acknowledged that RRNC techniques should
be used for the 35 houses under construction, but he

also knew that the funding
for the project was already
set. Nevertheless, Jennifer
was not about to be
thwarted by lack of funding.
She found the additional
support needed to build all
35 homes with RRNC by
partnering with the Alabama
Extension Service's Radon
program. The Extension
Service became involved
when Jennifer sought their
help to equip every home in
Habitat's Anniston Project
with a radon-mitigation
system. "Before my brain
engaged with my mouth, I
said, 'Why sure we can!"'
recalled Sabrina Lyle, an
Extension Radon Education

	 Technician in Madison

County. In just a few short
weeks, Sabrina built an impressive working partnership
among several public and private organizations to secure

Jennifer

immediately saw a
connection between
Habitat's
commitment to
provide decent and
affordable homes
and the need to
keep homes safe by
preventing indoor
radon risks.

the needed funding to build 35 new houses with radon-
resistant features. Sabrina's partners included the Ameri-
can Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists
(AARST), the Southern Regional Radon Training
Center, Radalink, Radon Control, Inc., Radonaway, and
Fantech.

"This is really the first time Extension has worked with
Habitat for Humanity to do a large-scale community
development activity," said Dr. Harry Strawn, an Ala-
bama Cooperative Extension economist and Radon
program coordinator. "We have the opportunity to work
with private industry and other organizations to help
build a new community where one did not exist before,
and that's community development at its best."

Jennifer Langton's perseverance in increasing radon
awareness among Habitat builders and her demonstra-
tion that radon reduction should be and can be an
integral part of all homebuilding projects has changed
the way Habitat does business. Before her work, Habitat
considered radon a separate issue. The volunteer organi-
zation now routinely covers the minimal additional costs
to incorporate RRNC into new building projects in high
radon risk areas. Radon education is now an essential
part of Habitat's workshop training on general construc-
tion for local affiliates around the country and Habitat
now promotes RRNC for all new construction projects
nationwide. From a random sample of highest-produc-
ing affiliates in 2002, 36 percent of the houses Habitat
built used RRNC. One woman's efforts have made a
remarkable difference in how one highly visible organiza-
tion addresses radon and its health risks.

Illinois: "Radon Rebate" Reduces Health Risks in East Moline

Success: City Mandates RRNC Building Plans and Provides Radon Test Kits to New Homeowners

When Tom Dickey—the Health Inspector of East
Moline in Rock Island County, Illinois—began perusing
his latest copy of the Journal of Environmental Health, an
ad for a workshop on RRNC caught his eye. Tom knew
that half the homes tested for radon in his county have
radon levels above EPA's action level. So when the
opportunity to learn more about radon's threat to public
health arose, he decided to attend the workshop and
explore what might be done to foster more awareness of
and address radon-related health risks in East Moline.

Upon returning to East Moline, Tom was eager to share
what he had learned. Fortunately, he found the perfect
audience right next door. His office is next to the office

of Butch Motzer, East Moline's Plumbing and Heating
Inspector. Tom's invitation to Butch to join him for a
cup of coffee marked the beginning of a mutually
supportive working relationship that became a key factor
in the success of what was to become their community's
radon initiative.

Tom's responsibility for public health protection and
Butch's knowledge of plumbing and heating require-
ments in new homes proved to be a perfect complement.
Tom's enthusiasm was immediately apparent to Butch,
and the two city inspectors wasted no time in laying the
foundation for a plan to get local builders to incorporate

3

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RRNC into their projects. They began by listing the
extra materials a builder would need to install a radon
mitigation system. Using this list, they estimated the
additional cost and realized the materials would add
about $150 to construction costs.

Thus was born the idea of the "Radon Rebate." When
contractors apply for new home permits in East Moline,
they pay a standard fee. If contractors agreed to incorpo-
rate RRNC into their building plans, the city would
deduct $150 from the permit fees. The two saw this
proposal as an all-around win: Contractors would lose
no money on the projects, the city would pay no money
for the effort, and the people of East Moline would
know their new homes are most likely safe from the risk
of radon.

When Tom and Butch presented their idea to East
Moline's Building Inspector, he supported it without
hesitation and seconded their next planned move. They
presented the plan to the City Council, where it met
with unanimous approval. The Radon Rebate program
was well on its way to helping East Moline address its
radon risk.

Before a permit could be issued, contractors were
required to meet with Tom, who gave them information
from EPA on RRNC techniques. Tom took on the
responsibility for completing three inspections at various
stages of construction, including sharing radon informa-
tion with the new homeowner as part of the final
inspection. He also told homeowners that, even though
their new home had been built using RRNC techniques,
the absence of radon could not be guaranteed. Tom
therefore recommended radon testing and, to reinforce
this point, offered free radon tests.

Butch was busy too. He offered hands-on demonstra-
tions to plumbers and contractors to show them how to
install a radon mitigation system. Any resistance on their

part quickly disappeared once they saw how simple the
installation was.

As a voluntary program, East Moline's Radon Rebate
program became hugely successful. Only a few builders
did not take advantage of the rebate. When the commu-
nity determined that the time was right to make the
program mandatory, Tom and Butch paid a second visit
to the City Council, this time with real results to
demonstrate the success of the program. Their second
presentation persuaded the City Council not only to
support a mandatory program, but also to continue
providing builders with the rebate. The Council also
passed a requirement for the Health Department to offer
radon test kits to homeowners within 6 months of
building occupancy. By providing radon test kits to new
homeowners, the Health Department could support
assessments to determine
how well the radon mitiga-
tion systems were working
and could encourage
adjustments if the systems
were not functioning
optimally.

"All Tom and I did

was go out for a
cup of coffee. Who
knew it would turn
into something so
big?"

The East Moline Radon
Rebate program is an
example of how a common
sense initiative to improve
environmental health met
with support at every level
of local government. The
conscientiousness and
innovation of two city

inspectors resulted in a program that not only worked
well for one small community in Illinois, but also made
so much sense it practically promoted itself. Butch
summed up the experience by saying, "All Tom and I did
was go out for a cup of coffee. Who knew it would turn
into something so big?"

Massachusetts: Belchertown Responds Swiftly to High Radon Levels

Success: Radon Outreach, Testing, and Mitigation Protects an Entire School District

As the Director of Buildings and Grounds for the
Belchertown School District in Massachusetts, Bob
Lachance's attendance at a Healthy Schools Network
meeting was all in a day's work. So when he set out for
the meeting, he had no idea that hearing Bill Bell's short
presentation would ultimately catalyze school and town
officials into an award-winning community effort to
reduce elevated radon levels in his school system. After

hearing Mr. Bell—a radiation control officer with the
Massachusetts Radiation Control Program—speak about
radon, Bob was convinced that radon is an important
issue for his community and that people would want to
know about radon's health risk and how to manage it.
When he returned from the meeting, he arranged to
have all seven of his school district's buildings tested for
radon. He called on the Massachusetts Department of

4

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Belchertown's
take-charge
approach is a
model example of
a town's swift
action to lower
radon levels in its
public schools.

Public Health for help and,
working with Roger Perras
and school facilities staff,
placed and collected more
than 400 radon tests and
associated quality assurance
tests throughout the school
buildings.

When tests revealed
elevated radon levels at the
Swift River Elementary
School, school officials
responded quickly and
decisively Bob asked Bill to
make a presentation to the
teachers and staff about
radon. Officials explained
that the radon testing had
been initiated as a screening
exercise—it was not prompted by any reports of health
problems. They also reassured the staff that their evalua-
tion and resolution of the high readings at Swift River
would be thoughtful and thorough. Officials then met
with parents for an open seminar the following week and
sent a newsletter home with students to explain the
situation. This communications effort paid off: "After
some initial staff discomfort," said Bob, "the
Belchertown School District earned the trust of this
community."

With technical support from the Massachusetts Depart-
ment of Public Health, the School District promptly
installed several temporary sub-slab depressurization
systems to prevent radon gas from entering the school.
They documented the resulting reduction in radon
concentrations with more than 3,500 hours of monitor-
ing and some 250 passive radon detectors. Over summer
break, the District installed five permanent mitigation
systems. Today the school community in Belchertown
can breathe more easily—radon readings at the Swift
River School are now well below EPA's action level.

Belchertown's take-charge approach to radon testing,
efforts to alert the school community to the findings
without alarming them, and swift action to lower radon
levels illustrate a model approach to protecting the
public from exposure to radon. In January of 2005, EPA
recognized school and town officials with a national
award for outstanding work to reduce elevated radon
levels in a school system.

Accepting the award for the school district, Richard A.
Pazasis, Superintendent of Schools for
Belchertown, said, "On behalf of everyone connected
with the School District, I am proud that we are being
recognized with this award. Belchertown consistently
adheres to its number one district-wide goal to protect
the health and safety of all students, school personnel,
and visitors. This goal includes paying
attention to the ever-changing environmental challenges
that schools face. I thank everyone who worked with us
to make this effort a success."

Alabama: A Journalist and Doctor Team Up to Save Lives Statewide

Success: Perseverance to Reduce Radon Risks Moves City to Require Mitigation Systems in New Homes

Julie Dutton is a local County Extension Agent for
Morgan County in Alabama. In 2001 when Julie
informed the City of Decatur's Council members of the
county's high radon risk and explained the serious health
consequence of radon exposure, she touched off a two-
year public debate on the city's building code. With the
building industry lobbying against including RRNC in
the new building code, the Council concluded that the
cost of installing passive radon reduction systems was
too high to impose on builders and new home buyers.
The debate might have ended then, save for the efforts of
a dedicated journalist at The Decatur Daily and a pas-
sionate doctor at the Decatur General Oncology Center.
Instead, five other Alabama Counties ultimately followed
Decatur's lead to require RNNC. Julie credits the

newspaper articles, saying that the proposed building
code change "was tabled and tabled and tabled. If you
want something to go away, just table it. The newspaper
articles really made the difference." (September 25,
2002, The Decatur Daily, online edition.)

Eric Fleischauer, an investigative reporter, sensed a story
in the Council's opposition to the RRNC requirement
and followed through on his journalistic hunch. From
April to September of 2002, he wrote, and the Decatur
Daily published, no fewer than 16 articles about radon
and RRNC. To ensure the public understood radon-
related health risk and was fully informed about the
Council's ongoing debate, he wrote fact-based but
provocative pieces with hard-to-ignore titles like, A Silent

5

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Intruder: Should Radon be Considered in New Building
Codes?, Radon Resistant Homes Make Good Sense, Council
Tables Radon Ordinance—Again!, and People May Win
Radon Battle over City Politics.

One Decatur Daily reader whose attention Eric captured
was Dr. Lane Price. One of Eric's articles convinced her
to enter the debate. She needed little coaxing. As Direc-
tor of Oncology at the local hospital, she had seen first-
hand the effects of lung cancer on her patients. And she
was fully aware that the U.S. Surgeon General cites
indoor radon as the second leading cause of lung cancer
in the United States. Dr. Price's entry to the debate
began with her publicly disputing the City Council's
reasoning and the arguments being made with regard to
building costs. For her, the public health aspect of the
issue was sadly tangible—and addressing it was a local
imperative. Dr. Price spoke about the health risk of
radon exposure, the need to protect Alabamans, and
about the thousands of people who die each year from
lung cancer. She explained that for her, and the people of
Alabama, the issue is about far more than costs and
statistics. "I'm looking at one patient whom I know,
whom I love. And who dies," Dr. Price said. She chal-
lenged the city and the homebuilders to do everything
they could to protect the public from radon exposure in
their homes.

changed their minds. Mayor Lynn Fowler said, "I really
think as we have gotten more information on this we
understand the problem better. I think we don't want to
jeopardize anybody's health. I support the radon installa-
tion at this time." About one month after Dr. Price's
appearance in front of the City Council, the Council
voted unanimously to require passive radon reduction
systems in new one- and two-family homes.

In a Decatur Daily article published shortly after the
requirement passed, Alice Rice of Alice Rice Builders
said of the first passive
radon reduction system
she installed in a new
home that "the additional
cost of the system in the
$105,000 house is less
than $200." Within 4
months of the appearance
of Eric's first radon article,
nearly 1,000 Decatur
residents tested their
homes for radon. The
radon concentration in
more than 16 percent of
those tests exceeded EPA's
action level.

For Dr. Price, the
public health aspect
of the radon issue
was sadly
tangible—and
addressing it was a
local imperative.

Dr. Price later recounted that, "at one point, they told
people they needed more studies. Now y'all, there are
studies coming out your ears on radon. In this day and
age information is easy to get. I called the City Council
president and she said, 'No, it probably won't pass
because nobody is interested in it.' They were all op-
posed to it."

But in the end the City of Decatur did become inter-
ested. Eric Fleischauer's persistence and Dr. Price's
passion combined to convince the Decatur City Council
to listen. Eric's articles focused public attention on the
issue, making it impossible for the Council to continue
tabling the discussion of RRNC requirements. Dr.

Price's persistence encouraged the Council and the
Mayor to reconsider their positions, and ultimately they

The effects of Eric Fleischauer's and Dr. Lane Price's
efforts did not end at the county line. Shortly after the
Decatur City Council adopted the requirement, RRNC
dominated the agenda at a statewide meeting of health
officials and county extension agents. The meeting
focused on how to emulate Decatur's results in other
cities. Dr. Price spoke to the group and described her
role and that of the local media in moving public
opinion and changing city policy. "This is how it can
work in every city in Alabama," said Harry Strawn, the
State Extension System Radon Program Coordinator.
Mr. Strawn said he is optimistic that Huntsville and
Madison will adopt the radon reduction requirement,
adding "They have been watching Decatur closely. I
think they needed to see that it was doable."

Michigan: Leveraging Resources in a Media Campaign

Success: Outreach and Partnerships Turns Small Investment into Major Asset for Radon Awareness

Sue Hendershott—an Indoor Radon Specialist with the
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality—
knows that public awareness of radon risk is one of the
most powerful tools available for reducing radon expo-

sure. In the early 1990s, the state had successfully used
public service announcements (PSAs) to publicize
information about the health risks from radon. The
outreach efforts were halted, however, when state legisla-

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In total, the state's
$75,000 investment
led to $750,000
worth of media
coverage for radon
issues.

tors objected to the use of
tobacco tax money to pay
for broadcasting. Still, Sue
was convinced that revitaliz-
ing publicity on radon,
preferably through televi-
sion, was her best option. So
when the Michigan Radio
Network (MRN) contacted
the Michigan Radon
Program to sell air time, Sue
may not have been overly
enthusiastic, but she lis-
tened. And she became more interested when MRN told
her that television PSA time had to be booked as much
as 3 years in advance. Deciding that a radio spot now
was better than no publicity for the next 2 to 3 years, she
arranged for the Radon Program to purchase $15,000 of
air time from MRN to run radio PSAs for 2 weeks in
January. MRN produced a radio ad at no extra cost and
distributed it to 66 member stations (news/talk, sports/
talk, country, oldies, etc.) that were slated to air it 52
times. With a total of 3,432 messages scheduled over 2
weeks, the radio campaign seemed promising.

Sue, however, was disappointed. Public inquiries about
radon didn't increase during the advertising campaign.
Still, because she knew that public awareness was the key
to reducing radon risk, and that television has more
impact on local awareness than any other broadcast
medium, Sue renewed her efforts to secure television
coverage of the radon issue in Michigan.

Sue contacted Denise Weston, director of the Non-
Commercial Sustaining Announcements (NCSA)
program, at the Michigan Association of Broadcasters
(MAB). During their conversation, Denise was con-
vinced that obtaining air time for such an important

health issue shouldn't be so difficult. Then, the idea hit
her: Just as Sue recognized that informing and educating
her stakeholders was the key, Denise believed that if her
stakeholders—in this case the broadcasters—knew more
about radon's health risk and had easy access to PSA
materials, they would air them.

And so the two set out to educate and motivate local
broadcasters. Their results were impressive. Sue pur-
chased $225,000 worth of television air time between
January and March 2004 with $75,000 from the Michi-
gan Radon Program budget. Soon EPA's Emmy Award
winning "People on the Street" Radon PSA was airing
around the state.

Denise, by now a fully committed supporter of Sue's
goal to increase public awareness of radon health risk,
wanted to do more. She got a local recording company
to develop two radio PSAs at no cost to the Michigan
Radon Program, marketed the PSAs to her network of
television and radio broadcasters, and secured an addi-
tional $525,000 of donated air time to publicize radon
health risk information and to encourage home testing.
In all, the state's $75,000 investment led to $750,000
worth of media attention for radon issues. Although the
advertising contract was slated to continue only through
March, PSAs aired from late December on, and some
stations continued to play the PSAs well into the
summer. The PSA was aired total of 11,145 times from
October 2003 through April 2004, more than twice the
goal of 5,002 ads.

This time, there was no question about the success of the
campaign. Thanks to the diligence and perseverance of a
state radon specialist and a public broadcasting expert,
the Michigan Radon Program received three times as
many calls as its previous monthly record after the initial
airing of the PSAs.

Illinois: Inspectors Use State Law to Save Lives

Success: City's Inspection and Outeach Leads to Proper Mitigation System Installation and Influences Other Cities

The state Residential Building Code in Illinois requires
the installation of passive radon mitigation systems in
new homes. Even though high levels of radon are found
in Illinois, the code is not enforced statewide, allowing
towns, provinces, and cities to either adopt it or ignore it.
So in 2000 when the city of Yorkville decided to adopt
the code and all of its appendices, Charles Riforgiate—
the Head of the Yorkville Building and Safety Depart-
ment—applauded the move. Charles had a hunch,

however. Even with required installation, he suspected that
only about half of the radon mitigation systems would be
installed correctly.

Not willing to let Yorkville's good intentions fail in the
implementation process, Charles decided to make radon
system inspections a priority. Now all new homes—
approximately 800 homes each year—must pass inspection
for a properly installed radon reduction system.

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Charles did not stop there. In April 2004, he launched a
radon awareness campaign aimed at area builders and
developers. Charles was determined to reduce the
number of Yorkville houses with radon problems by
educating the building community about the serious
health effects of radon exposure and by providing
information on how to install passive radon reduction
systems in all homebuilding projects. He began his
training with his code inspectors, to help them identify
incorrectly installed systems. Next, recognizing that most
builders were simply unaware of a proper installation
process, he concentrated on educating builders and
developers. Since the push began to train city inspectors

and educate builders and developers, Charles estimates
that 95 percent of the systems his staff inspects are now
installed correctly. The 5 percent that fail must pass a
follow-up inspection before being certified for occu-
pancy.

Yorkville's success in adopting and enforcing the Resi-
dential Building Code has prompted nearby areas to
follow suit. With Charles's help, the Safety Departments
of all towns within a 30-mile radius of Yorkville have
adopted the Residential Building Code, and that radius
continues to expand.

Minnesota: Radon Rules "Sweeps Week" in Minneapolis

Success: Local Media and State Program Partnership Increases Awareness by the Thousands

In early 2004, the Minnesota Department of Health
(MDH) was receiving somewhere between 70 and 100
phone calls per month about radon. When the local CBS
affiliate in Minneapolis called looking for a public health
story as sweeps week 2004 approached, everything was
about to change. The Supervisor of the Department's
Indoor Air Unit, Dale Dorschner, suggested that
WCCO run a story on radon. Dale called on Joshua
Kerber, who coordinates the MDH's radon program,
and his staff to introduce the station's news producer to
the public health hazards of radon in Minnesota. The
program staff's presentations on radon-related health
risks, average radon levels across Minnesota, the avail-
ability of radon mitigation services, and RRNC tech-
niques were convincing. The news producer recom-
mended that the station develop not one, but several
segments on radon. The station wholeheartedly obliged.

During sweeps week, WCCO developed and arranged to
air its first segment on radon's health effects and home
testing options. Optimistic that the topic would pique
the interest of its audience, WCCO coordinated with
MDH to set up a phone bank at the television station to
field calls from viewers about how to test and where to
get free or discounted radon test kits. Describing radon
as a serious threat, WCCO warned viewers that "it kills
more people than drunk driving, fires, and drowning."
Within 2 hours of the story's airing, the phone bank
received more than 600 calls and distributed a free test
kit to each caller.

To handle the sustained heightened interest, MDH
launched its own hotline and fielded over 1,000 calls.
The week following the story, the Department received

more than 4,600 emails. Radon mitigators reported their
appointment books were full after the first WCCO story,
with some booked solid for a
year. At the end of sweeps
week, WCCO learned that
their radon segment had put
them in first place for
viewers. Approximately
352,500 viewers watched the
story, the largest single rating
in the period and the largest
response in station history.

WCCO had no doubts that
radon was a topic they
wanted to pursue in greater
depth.

Attention to radon
by the local CBS
affiliate increased
hits to the
Minnesota
Department of
Health's Web site
10-fold in 3 months.

WCCO's second episode on
radon aired in December.

This installment addressed
radon concerns in new and

old homes, revealing that many area builders were
skeptical about radon as a threat in new homes. The
story revealed that some builders mistakenly believed
that radon exposure poses no serious health threat and
that its source in older homes was aging appliances.
WCCO also interviewed a local builder whose story had
a different twist. Despite no legal obligation, he had
already installed a system to prevent exposure to high
levels of radon. Although radon mitigation can cost from
$800 to $2,500 on an existing house, the system he
installed during construction cost $300, a cost he felt
comfortable absorbing.

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Surgeon General Health
Advisory

"Indoor radon is the second-leading
cause of lung cancer in the United
States and breathing it over prolonged
periods can present a significant
health risk to families all over the
country. It's important to know that
this threat is completely preventable.
Radon can be detected with a simple
test and fixed through well-
established venting techniques."

—January 2005

In February 2005, WCCO's third story about radon
publicized their newly formed partnership with a
national radon lab. While the first radon stories were
getting airplay the station was working another angle
that left no doubt about their commitment to the issue.
They convinced the lab to provide discounted radon test
kits to all WCCO viewers. After that story was broad-
cast, more than 15,000 test kits were sold. WCCO's I-
TEAM tracked the test results and found that high levels
of radon occurred in every county where viewers tested.
In fact, forty percent of the tests revealed levels of radon
above EPA's action level. The highest level of radon
reported was 240 pCi/L—60 times the action level!
WCCO's collaboration with MDH led to the first
comprehensive database compiled on radon levels in
Minnesota since 1988. WCCO's attention to the radon
story caused hits on MDH's Radon Web site to sky-
rocket from roughly 2,000 per month to 14,000 in
December 2004; 7,173 in January 2005; and 23,231 in
February 2005-

Although the debate continues over whether to include
RRNC guidance in the building code, Dale has no
doubt that the local media's attention to radon has had
an undeniable impact on the state's radon program. The
real estate and building industries' demand for MDH to
provide continuing education courses on radon mitiga-
tion and RRNC has grown, and inquiries through the
Radon Web site and hotlines remain high. Dale says the
partnership with the media transformed the Minnesota
Radon program. "Media attention made our program
grow 20-fold, and the hard work and commitment of
our staff has allowed MDH to respond effectively to
increased public awareness of radon and interest in
reducing its harmful effects."

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