It is also considered a distant second to cigarette smoking as a leading preventable cause of lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer increases with exposure to increasing levels of radon in the indoor environment. A combination of cigarette smoking and long term exposure to increased levels of radon increases individual risk exponentially. During the last year 19 test devices were sold and 12 reports issued. We are in the process of following up with home or building owners to determine if mitigation occurred.
Exposure can also cause significant non-lethal illness.
With the increasing use of CO detectors, many calls on this subject are received, including those from people who assume that the detector is malfunctioning when it begins alarming soon after it is installed. The Program's role is in educating the public on how CO is formed and how its build-up can be prevented. Second, the Program provides technical assistance to LFD on policies related to handling CO detector alarm calls. In the past year, technical assistance for the reduction of indoor air hazards was provided by phone to 1,113 citizens. On-site consultations were provided in 89 of 113 cases which were investigated.