Listen to this week’s radio segment, which discusses Iowans’ high risk of exposure to deadly radon. You can read more about radon in Iowa here.

It’s called the “invisible killer.”

This is the Iowa Environmental Focus.

Through cracks in floors, walls or foundations, it silently seeps into buildings – a naturally-occurring, radioactive gas that kills thousands each year. It’s radon. And Iowans are most at risk.

But it’s preventable.

Radon, created by decaying uranium in our soil, leads to about 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year, according to the EPA, and 400 hundred of those victims are Iowans.

Here, we have over six times more radon than the national average says Bill Field, UI professor of public health.

Seven in ten Iowa homes have high levels of the gas, and people in all 99 counties face the highest risk of exposure, according to the EPA.

But for less than $10 a kit, you can find out if you are at risk, and if necessary, you can seek help from professionals to protect your health.

For more information, visit IowaEnviornmentalFocus.org.

I’m Jerry Schnoor, from the UI Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research.

Thank You.