Radon gas action needed across UK

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Radon can cause health problems


All new homes built in the UK should be fitted with measures to prevent the build-up of the potentially harmful gas radon, researchers have said.
The radioactive gas can seep from the ground into houses, and may contribute to more than 1,000 deaths a year.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, a University of Oxford team called for gas-resistant membranes to be made compulsory in new houses.
However, another expert said membranes often failed to work properly.
It is believed that radon exposure accounts for a significant minority of lung cancer deaths each year.
The geology of certain areas of the UK, including Cornwall and Northamptonshire, means that radon gas is more likely to be a problem.
And housebuilders are currently required to take steps to cut radon build-up where measurements show there is a raised level of the gas.
This can range from fitting a membrane to reduce the amounts getting into the property, to building in spaces and underfloor ventilation to disperse the gas where levels are especially high.





At the moment the costs are borne by the builder or homeowner.
However, the Oxford researchers calculated that only 5% of 1,100 radon-related lung cancer deaths a year occurred because of exposure above the "action level" threshold set by the Health Protection Agency.
They said that changing building regulations so that every new home in the UK had the basic protection of a membrane would save lives - and was likely to prove cost-effective if financed by the state.
They wrote: "We conclude that basic preventive measures against radon in new homes is likely to be a highly cost effective public health intervention measure, with the potential to make a modest but worthwhile contribution to reducing the annual number of deaths from lung cancer in the UK, alongside existing policies to reduce smoking."
However, the high cost of modifying existing homes to protect them against the gas, even just those exposed to higher levels, could not be justified in terms of public health benefits, they said.
Testing device
The Health Protection Agency itself has called for a change to building regulations to incorporate membranes, but not every expert is convinced that it would work.
Professor Paul Phillips, from the University of Northampton, said that the membranes frequently did not work.
He said that using inexpensive measuring devices to target those homes with the most dangerous build-up remained a good way to tackle the problem. He said: "One of the problems is that the radon level can vary widely from house to house - one can be greatly above the 'action level', while next door the levels are significantly below. "What we need to do is to get the right health messages out there about measuring radon and remedying the problem where it exists."