Maine Radon Levels in Homes (Ellsworth, Dedham: houses, transfer, buy)

[nomore07]

There are other toxins in the area which are tied to cancer as well, including lead, cadmium, and mercury.

Pollution Locator: USA

[Jebbie]

Originally Posted by nomore07

There are other toxins in the area which are tied to cancer as well, including lead, cadmium, and mercury.

Pollution Locator: USA

I think I've found the cause, considering the highest incidences of cancer cluster in the northeast, including Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, etc. Check out this map and consider how the average weather pattern flows in the eastern/northeastern U.S. and Canada:
Pollution Locator: Smog and Particulates

In other words, Maine and the northeast have been and are the "exhaust pipe" for industrial America. Cancer is a price we pay. There are undoubtedly other risk factors as well, but air pollution appears to have laid a firm "risk foundation" upon which the other factors can build.

Anybody got a better idea?

[cebdark]

From my limited understanding, Maine being a granite state may naturally lend itself to higher radon levels as radon is found in granite. There's currently a big controversy over granite countertops with health experts saying that they could possibly pose a problem with radon emission, and the granite industry calling it junk science. I guess I'd have to see more evidence personally before I would make a decision about that.

The theory of Maine being a "tailpipe" for the rest of the industrial US is one I've heard before as well. It would make sense to me considering the direction of the jet stream.

I also believe that cancer - to some degree - is in the cards you are dealt when you are born. That may be one reason that some people who have uber risk-factors live to their late 80's or into their 90's.

[RMoore007]

Originally Posted by Jebbie

I think I've found the cause, considering the highest incidences of cancer cluster in the northeast, including Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, etc. Check out this map and consider how the average weather pattern flows in the eastern/northeastern U.S. and Canada:
Pollution Locator: Smog and Particulates

In other words, Maine and the northeast have been and are the "exhaust pipe" for industrial America. Cancer is a price we pay. There are undoubtedly other risk factors as well, but air pollution appears to have laid a firm "risk foundation" upon which the other factors can build.

Anybody got a better idea?

..............the hills of Maine that is. Oh wait, I'm already there. We live in an old drafty 1850's farmhouse. I may just leave it that way now. A farmhouse with built in exhaust.

[7th generation]

Originally Posted by Jebbie

I think I've found the cause, considering the highest incidences of cancer cluster in the northeast, including Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, etc. Check out this map and consider how the average weather pattern flows in the eastern/northeastern U.S. and Canada:
Pollution Locator: Smog and Particulates

In other words, Maine and the northeast have been and are the "exhaust pipe" for industrial America. Cancer is a price we pay. There are undoubtedly other risk factors as well, but air pollution appears to have laid a firm "risk foundation" upon which the other factors can build.

Anybody got a better idea?

This has been known and documented for years.
We are the recipient of midwest states' fossil fuel emissions.
Not much we can do except move, but I ain't gonna!
......but this thread is about radon...

[Sunday1]

According to the NIH, 10% of all lung cancer cases in the U.S. are caused by radon. (I didn't find it on the NIH or NCI web sites, though -- it's quoted on the site for the Vermont Cancer Registry.) "Getting your house tested for Radon" is on the National Cancer Institute's list of Top 10 Things you can do to reduce your risk for cancer.

Maybe this should be part of the economic stimulus package. Tax deductions for radon mitigation systems! Heck of a lot cheaper than treating cancer from Medicare funds. Put new companies into business and help homeowners with the expense!

[Trailmonkey]

As a registered tester and mitigator, I would recommend that anyone with questions call the maine state radon board, and talk with Bob Stilwell and Tom Thornton. Bob is one of the foremost experts on radon in the country, and all related subjects. Their number is 287-5676. Over half of the homes in the state exceed the recommended action limit (which is now 2.0, by the way), and many homes exceed the 4000 pC/i action level for water. DM me for more info, or call the number I listed. There is too much mis- and dis-information on the web to cover in one post.

By the way, most granite countertops do not have high levels of radon, but it still does not hurt to test. Make sure the proper test is used, however.

Air exchange is another method of mitigation, but I prefer to use it as a "clean-up" method rather than a primary mitigation method. Some people think air exchangers, with their 1/25hp motor, use a lot of electricity, and turn them off. (they don't, by the way, unless they are run at high speed all the time, and even then, they use less than the average yard light.)

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Trailmonkey

As a registered tester and mitigator, I would recommend that anyone with questions call the maine state radon board, and talk with Bob Stilwell and Tom Thornton. Bob is one of the foremost experts on radon in the country, and all related subjects. Their number is 287-5676. Over half of the homes in the state exceed the recommended action limit (which is now 2.0, by the way), and many homes exceed the 4000 pC/i action level for water. DM me for more info, or call the number I listed. There is too much mis- and dis-information on the web to cover in one post.

By the way, most granite countertops do not have high levels of radon, but it still does not hurt to test. Make sure the proper test is used, however.

Air exchange is another method of mitigation, but I prefer to use it as a "clean-up" method rather than a primary mitigation method. Some people think air exchangers, with their 1/25hp motor, use a lot of electricity, and turn them off. (they don't, by the way, unless they are run at high speed all the time, and even then, they use less than the average yard light.)

Good info thanks

[flycessna]

This is an interesting topic for me, with respect to higher then average levels of cancer..well..."lung cancer".

Has anyone who has come to maine from away felt that they were witnessed to an unusually high amount of terminaly ill people?

It seems for me anyways...I am always hearing of someone I know who is young and diagnosed with sever cancer and even terminal cancer.. I have never seen so many sick young people anywhere else I have lived..Right now I know two gentlemen who are both between 40 and 50 and are dying of cancer.. IDK if it has to do with Maine, or just maybe where I am at in life....but it is So sad..and I wonder why??

[gcberry]

I live in MD and cancer is everywhere, young and old alike. Of course here we see a huge amount of patients because we have Johns Hopkins Hospital, and people come from all over the world to be treated here. There are so many factors - genetic, environmental, diet, lifestyle, stress, etc. - that compromise our immune systems and allow cancer to proliferate. No one would argue that the amount of cases - young people included- has increased, but I highly doubt that it "has to do with Maine" per se.