lung cancer
Radiation protectors warn against insufficient knowledge about radon
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has examined the knowledge about the danger of the radioactive gas radon. photo
© Uli Deck/dpa
Many people are unaware of the health risk posed by radon. A new survey has revealed that too little is known about the radioactive gas. The scientific mandate is clear.
Scientists consider the knowledge about the harmful effects of the radioactive gas radon to be dangerously low. The risk in buildings in particular is therefore not clear enough.
This is the result of a study carried out on behalf of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). “After smoking, radon is one of the most common causes of lung cancer – from which you can protect yourself well,” said BfS President Inge Paulini.
Radon increases the risk of lung cancer
According to the Federal Office based in Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, radon can occur in every building and increase the risk of lung cancer for people who live or work there. The gas is present everywhere in Germany in different quantities in the ground and can get into houses and thus into the air we breathe through leaks. According to the radiation protection experts, only very few would have thought about measuring radon in their own four walls.
Radon measurements are inexpensive and unproblematic, as the BfS explains on its website. The easiest way to measure the radon concentration is with a so-called passive detector. These are small plastic containers that do not require electricity, but are only laid out. The devices can be ordered from measurement laboratories, which then send them by post.
Insufficient public awareness
Based on the new study data, awareness of radon is described as “quite superficial”. Of those who had heard of radon, only 24 percent correctly stated that radon can occur in the basement of buildings, as the Federal Office announced. Even fewer people from this group were therefore aware that radon occurs on the ground floors (14 percent) and on higher floors (5 percent).
A connection with one’s own living or working situation is hardly established, the scientists conclude and call for better dissemination of knowledge. “This is an order in particular for federal and state authorities to continue and expand their educational work on radon,” said BfS boss Paulini.