Health Unit raises the alarm over radon in KFL&A

Jeff Green | Aug 21, 2019

Over two thirds of South Frontenac residents are living with dangerous levels of radon in the living area of their home. And the numbers aren't much better elsewhere in Frontenac and L&A Counties where over 55% are in the same boat.

A study that was initiated partly because of the risk of high radon levels in Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington had already been identified as significantly greater than the national average, has shown that homes in the region have about a 50% chance of contamination above the World Health Organisation danger line.

Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking. Lung cancer causes more deaths each year than any other cancer, and cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada.

Testing was done on 1084 homes as part of a survey and information campaign that was initiated in December of 2018 as part of the KFL&A Public Health radon mitigation strategy.

A previous nationwide study by Health Canada in 2009 included only 99 houses in KFL&A.  11% of those tests showed levels about 200 Bq/m³ (Bequerelles per cubic metre – Bequerelles are a measure of radioactive disintegration)

The Public Health study was 10 times as large, 1049, and the results were three times as severe. In all of Frontenac County, Stone Mills and Addington Highlands, over 34% of households had levels above 200 Bq/m³. For reporting purposes, the results from Central and North Frontenac, Addington Highlands and Stone Mills were bundled together, as were those for South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands. That gave enough samples in the survey (2% of the households in each survey region) for the researchers to be able to say the results are accurate with a plus or minus range of 10%. The 34% result in Frontenac County, for example, represents a range between 30.6% and 37.6%.

But these numbers, as alarming as they may look, do not capture the entire risk to Frontenac and L&A homeowners.

Erin Hayes, a Public Health Promoter with KFL&A Public Health and one of the researchers who worked on the survey, points out that the World Health Organisation (WHO) uses a different measure to determine a dangerous level for radon, 100 Bq/m³.

“The WHO standard is based on the level at which an increased risk of lung cancer can be established, and we have recommended that Health Canada adopt it as a standard since it is internationally recognised and is based on an identified risk,” she said, in a telephone interview this week.

Using the 100 Bq/m³ standard, 68.9% of households in South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands have radon levels that are unsafe, as do 53.4% of households in Central and North Frontenac, Addington Highlands and Stone Mills.

And on the upper level of risk, 4% of the households in the South Frontenac/Frontenac Island cohort and 7.6% of households in the CF/NF Addington Highlands and Stone Mills have levels that were at the danger level, over 600 Bq/m³

The report makes 7 recommendations for action, which include improved health messaging, advocacy, further testing and changes to the building code so new homes are built with the capacity to keep radon out.

In November, KFL&A Public Health Offices will be selling radon tests at a bargain price of $20. The tests can be returned to the same offices within 90 days for analysis.

“We recommend that every household in KFL&A do the test,” said Erin Hayes, “the results across the region are so seemingly random. We had households on one street with wildly varying results, so it is best for everyone to find out for themselves what the level is in their own home.”

Remediation can cost $1,500 to $2,000 or more in some cases.

There are also techniques that can eliminate the risk of water and radon seepage when new homes are being built.

In 1976 the national building code included a regulation that new homes be built with these safeguards in place, but that part of the code has never been adopted by local municipalities

Activist John McEwen has been advocating for that to happen in South Frontenac. He even ran for Mayor and MPP with the sole purpose of advocating for changes in those regulations in South Frontenac.

But if South Frontenac were to adopt those rules, the cost of construction in the township would be higher than in townships that have not adopted the relevant clause from the national building code.

Numerous chief building officials and township councils have rejected McEwen’s calls for changes to local building regulations over the years.