Your Children and Radon
Your children are at an increased risk from high radon levels because the risk of lung cancer is based on the accumulated dose of radon and children exposed to high radon levels start to accumulate dosage earlier in life. Your child’s radon dose is accumulated in two places principally, at home and at school.
Most Irish homes (including new houses) have no form of radon protection and fewer than 1% of children’s bedrooms have been tested.
However as a parent you will be happy to know that Ireland was the first country in the world to carry out a comprehensive radon gas testing and mitigation programme. From 1998 to 2004 The Department of Education and Science undertook and funded the largest radon protection project ever undertaken in the Europe. Every classroom in each of over 4,000 Irish schools was tested. All rooms with radon levels over 200Bq/m3 were remediated and retested. All new schools and extensions are now routinely tested for radon. Fortunately for Irish children Ireland is now considered to have the most radon safe schools in Europe. A full report on the survey is available at Radon in Irish Primary and post-Primary Schools – the results of the national survey.
What a shame then that less than 1% of parents will have tested their own children’s bedrooms for radon.
