Granite Dells Area - Very High Radon Levels (Prescott: sale, home)

[BriansPerspective]

Panophobia = the fear of everything. Of course long term exposure to high levels of radon can cause cancer. The key question is how do low doses of radon affect the body? How exactly does the EPA determine that radon caused someone to have lung cancer? How do they calculate that 2,900 non-smokers die each year from radon-induced lung cancer? How do they know that those 2,900 people did not get lung cancer from secondhand smoke or from genetic predisposition or from smog or from eating peanut butter? So, let's assume that 2,900 is actually correct. Assuming that we're talking about the US and not the world population, then your chances of getting lung cancer from radon in any given year are 0.0009%. That's pretty darn low.

Let's put radon-caused death into comparison. For every 100,000 people per year, about 0.88 people will die from radon-induced lung cancer. Let's be generous and call that one person per hundred thousand. Here are some other ways that people will die: 5 times as many will die from fire. 10 times as many will die from poisoning. 6 times as many will die from violence. 11 times as many will commit suicide. 200 times as many will die from heart disease. 41 times as many will die from accidents. 15 times as many will die from a traffic accident.

Since 15 times as many people die from traffic accidents, maybe realtors should investigate car accident frequencies near subdivisions and warn their clients that one subdivision has more car accidents than another subdivision. Afterall, car accidents are seemingly 15 times more dangerous than radon.

If you spend your whole life constantly in fear of death, have you really lived?

[kdog]

Originally Posted by DellNec

Boy oh boy.

The cause of death listing is "lung cancer". They would not list the cause of death as "death by radon", even though the radon caused the lung cancer.

The same goes for cigarettes, the cause of death would be ruled "lung cancer", not "death by cigarettes".

Try not to hurt yourself with all that head-slapping, because that's not what I said. I said I never met anyone who knows anybody who got cancer from radon. When somebody you know gets cancer that has an obvious cause like them being heavy smokers, a welder (friend of mine), asbestos, a miner, etc, you know about it.

The number of smokers who supposedly die from radon is TEN-TIMES the number of non-smokers who supposedly die from radon (only 2900/year). Get it? The real danger is smoking!

[autism360]

A Citizen's Guide to Radon | Radon | US EPA
Radon can be found all over the U.S.

Radon comes from the natural (radioactive) breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water and gets into the air you breathe. Radon can be found all over the U.S. It can get into any type of building — homes, offices, and schools — and result in a high indoor radon level. But you and your family are most likely to get your greatest exposure at home, where you spend most of your time.

You should test for radon.

Testing is the only way to know if you and your family are at risk from radon. EPA and the Surgeon General recommend testing all homes below the third floor for radon. EPA also recommends testing in schools.
Testing is inexpensive and easy — it should only take a few minutes of your time. Millions of Americans have already tested their homes for radon (see How to Test Your Home).

You can fix a radon problem.

Radon reduction systems work and they are not too costly. Some radon reduction systems can reduce radon levels in your home by up to 99%. Even very high levels can be reduced to acceptable levels.

[DellNec]

Originally Posted by BriansPerspective

If you spend your whole life constantly in fear of death, have you really lived?

As far as your above comment, we are not talking about extreme phobias or fearing death to the point of not living. Those are all red herrings being thrown in to divert from the topic. It's a simple scientific fact, radon gas kills people, if you disagree with the scientific conclusions then your argument is with the doctors and researchers.

What doesn't make any logical sense is WHY it is so difficult for Realtors to disclose a high radon gas content in the Granite Dells area to buyers? It takes a 5 minute Google search to net these results. As mentioned, Realtors spend hundreds of hours researching the area and pulling up sales, yet why don't they take 5 minutes to research the areas hazards. I know WHY they avoid it and when the question was posed here, you dodged the question and spun a web to avoid answering it.

If you believe radon gas is not a danger and you want to argue that stance, then you need to debate the top researchers in the country and world, not me. Why is it so difficult to take 5 minutes and research the area for potential hazards and then give the potential buyer a CLEAR picture BEFORE they spend their life's savings on a home?

Look, it's easy:

PROS: Great views, quiet living, clean air
CONS: Potential arsenic in drinking water and radon gas due to geology in area

[DellNec]

Originally Posted by kdog

Try not to hurt yourself with all that head-slapping, because that's not what I said. I said I never met anyone who knows anybody who got cancer from radon. When somebody you know gets cancer that has an obvious cause like them being heavy smokers, a welder (friend of mine), asbestos, a miner, etc, you know about it.

The number of smokers who supposedly die from radon is TEN-TIMES the number of non-smokers who supposedly die from radon (only 2900/year). Get it? The real danger is smoking!

The head slapping is imaginary, just like your conclusions. Look, it's really simple, read this study and argue with all the PhD's that participated in the study. I am sure they will hear your hypothesis that radon gas is a myth.

THE IOWA RADON LUNG CANCER STUDY

[TechieGeek]

One thing I have learned researching different areas is that you can find environmental hazards EVERYWHERE. But if you look at the link I posted previously or go to the CDC website, you will find that cancer happens the least in dry, sunny climates- including lung cancer. The drinking water problem is something you will find everywhere as is the radon gas. It is up to the community to get together and make efforts to try and prevent or fix these types of problems.

[BriansPerspective]

Originally Posted by DellNec

What doesn't make any logical sense is WHY it is so difficult for Realtors to disclose a high radon gas content in the Granite Dells area to buyers? It takes a 5 minute Google search to net these results. As mentioned, Realtors spend hundreds of hours researching the area and pulling up sales, yet why don't they take 5 minutes to research the areas hazards. I know WHY they avoid it and when the question was posed here, you dodged the question and spun a web to avoid answering it.

Please post the survey of realtors in which they state that they find it difficult to disclose high radon gas content in the Granite Dells. You are making a broad statement without factual basis.

When you posed the question to me, I did not dodge the question. Here was my response:

That said, of course a good REALTOR would inform a client if an area is prone to high levels of radon.

My personal beliefs have nothing to do with the information that I present to buyers. I personally do not think asbestos and lead paint in a home are that big of a deal (unless you have babies around). Yet, I have gone to great lengths to determine the correct year a house was built in order to find out if there might be lead or asbestos in a home.

If you look on the county GIS, you will see that the Year-Built field no longer says Year-Built. It now says "Effective/Constructed". It used to say Year Buillt until I figured out that the field actually showed the weighted average year of all improvements to the property. There were cases where the county GIS said that a house was built in 1980, which would lead you to believe that the house did not contain lead paint or asbestos. Yet, the house was actually first built in 1975 and then had multiple additions in later years, which increased the effective age of the property.

I composed an email to the county explaining this and they revised the field name. I've found several properties where a buyer wanted to put an offer in on a property and the seller's agent thought the effective age was the year-built. I informed the buyer that the house was built prior to 1976 and might have lead paint and asbestos. It didn't matter whether I didn't get the sale. It mattered that the buyer was correctly informed. If the buyer didn't buy that house it didn't matter, he would probably buy a different house anyway.

My personal opinions have nothing to do with buyer disclosures. Whatever is a material concern to a client is absolutely valid.

[Zonie5]

Radon is not the cause of death . breathing is ! i worked in a lead refinery and had lead poisoning twice . yet i am in better health than lot of people . whatever one can think of can be taken and built uo to where some people will panic . reminds me of back in the 50s when real estate people brought black families into white neighborhoods . the white would panic and dump their homes for a very low price . same method could very well be used with a "Radon Scare" .

[wretched wrench]

Originally Posted by Zonie5

Radon is not the cause of death . breathing is !

I always thought stopping breathing made you die.

But seriously, impaired lung function makes radon more dangerous. This is probably true with a lot of lung pollutants. Perhaps GD residents should give up smoking if they do. That alone seems to be a good way to cut down on the risk.

I used to know a few WW II shipyard workers with asbestosis. They continued to smoke, fatalistically saying they were going to die, anyway, from the asbestos. Turns out the cigs accelerated the lung damage and they died way sooner.

[DellNec]

What "white flight" and racism has to do with radon gas, I have NO IDEA but the dangers of radon gas is NOT up for debate. Even it today's day and age there are people who believe that smoking a pack a day is completely safe.

As Wretched Wrench mentioned, the more lung irritants and carcinogens that one bombards their lungs with, the higher the risks rise for some form of lung disease. If you live in Granite Dells and are exposed to high levels of radon in your home, you will probably get some form of lung disease/cancer in 15+ years from now, if you smoke, then everything gets exacerbated.