Radon: New
Rules & Regs
by Jeffrey G. Gilmore and Karen E. Harrison
Recent discoveries of high levels of
radon gas in many homes in the
Northeast have led the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to propose
rule-making on radon in drinking
water, and to issue guidelines on
radon detection and elimination.
Radon gas forms when uranium
and radium deposits, which are found
naturally in soil, decay. According to
A. James Barnes, deputy administrator
of the EPA, radon contamination
may be responsible for nearly 20,000
lung cancer deaths each year.
The EPA estimates that up to 12
percent of the homes in the U.S.
have unsafe radon levels. In fact, tests
for radon are now frequently conducted
prior to the sale or