The radon business is a scam. (RE agent, disclosure, banks, lawyers)

[Barking Spider]

If you are only paying $800 consider yourself lucky. It's not only the $5 PVC, they also have to put in a 25 cent outlet and a $2.29 fan.

As far as fraudulent procedure, I guess if you Google just about anything on the internet, you will find an "expert" to agree with just about any subject.

The earth is flat.
No one ever landed on the moon.
Elvis is alive somewhere.
Going swimming after eating a soda cracker will make you drown.
Drinking milk with a tuna sandwich will make you sick.
Vitamin C will kill you.
Vitamin C will cure cancer.
Vitamin C will cure ED.

If you want to live in an area where they don't believe that elevated levels of radon are harmful, you will have to look outside the US and Canada, and many parts of Europe. They have all taken a stand about radon.

But I guess it's all part of the huge hoax program, where THEY are out to get you. You may want to limit your computer use, because the CIA is probably watching you closely now you have gone against the EPA in a public arena.

Good luck with your move.

[Eeeee22895]

Originally Posted by Barking Spider

If you are only paying $800 consider yourself lucky. It's not only the $5 PVC, they also have to put in a 25 cent outlet and a $2.29 fan.

As far as fraudulent procedure, I guess if you Google just about anything on the internet, you will find an "expert" to agree with just about any subject.

The earth is flat.
No one ever landed on the moon.
Elvis is alive somewhere.
Going swimming after eating a soda cracker will make you drown.
Drinking milk with a tuna sandwich will make you sick.
Vitamin C will kill you.
Vitamin C will cure cancer.
Vitamin C will cure ED.

If you want to live in an area where they don't believe that elevated levels of radon are harmful, you will have to look outside the US and Canada, and many parts of Europe. They have all taken a stand about radon.

But I guess it's all part of the huge hoax program, where THEY are out to get you. You may want to limit your computer use, because the CIA is probably watching you closely now you have gone against the EPA in a public arena.

Good luck with your move.

I presented information. I presented EPA quotes from their own publications. If you are satisfied cigarette smokers who died from cancer really died from household radon, go with it. And while you're at it, don't forget to invest in Al Gore's carbon credits company.

[fairmarketvalue]

Originally Posted by Barking Spider

If you are only paying $800 consider yourself lucky. It's not only the $5 PVC, they also have to put in a 25 cent outlet and a $2.29 fan.

As far as fraudulent procedure, I guess if you Google just about anything on the internet, you will find an "expert" to agree with just about any subject.

The earth is flat.
No one ever landed on the moon.
Elvis is alive somewhere.
Going swimming after eating a soda cracker will make you drown.
Drinking milk with a tuna sandwich will make you sick.
Vitamin C will kill you.
Vitamin C will cure cancer.
Vitamin C will cure ED.

If you want to live in an area where they don't believe that elevated levels of radon are harmful, you will have to look outside the US and Canada, and many parts of Europe. They have all taken a stand about radon.

But I guess it's all part of the huge hoax program, where THEY are out to get you. You may want to limit your computer use, because the CIA is probably watching you closely now you have gone against the EPA in a public arena.

Good luck with your move.

eeeee22895- I think this one is a certified Radon tester/mitigator! These guys are making a killing. By the way- I'd like to know how mitigation will work with all of these new homes full of Granite. Barkingspider, care to comment? $5 PVC piping coming out of the woodwork throughout since the source is usually the basement and mitigated through and/or around the sump pump? Just one more "bargaining tool for the prospective buyers to get another $$$$$ credit at the closing table! Or better yet, an excuse NOT to by the house after all. What a ridiculous, paranoid society we now live in. Radon- give me a break!

[PotterGeek]

This post makes me wonder what all those peeps will do that installed or bought granite...the media has been warning of the radon dangers associated with granite countertops. I would never have thought someone's countertops could become a liability...

[Karen59]

Originally Posted by Barking Spider

Since radon is on the periodic table, it is NOT something that just popped up.

It is a naturally occurring gas, so "naturally" it could be in lots of different things.

I believe radon is in the radioactive decay cycle of uranium, and uranium is contained in soil. What makes radon a bit more dangerous is that it can be inhaled (it is a gas)--as someone said--once a radioactive material is inside the body---it becomes more dangerous. Other common radioactive material found in soil would not be inhaled if they are not gases. Radon is completely natural, as the poster says. The only thing I can think is that well-sealed basements of modern humans might be a way of concentrating the radon above what humans have evolved to handle. Radon is heavy and dense and collects in low areas.

Radon degrades to polonium, which , unlike radon, will stay in the lungs--perhaps for your lifetime. Polonium is an alpha emitter. Alpha emiters are very very dangerous if they are inside you. Alpha particles, if you don't know, are the most massive type of radioactivity and I believe, are very dangerous. I have no idea if there is enough radon inside your basement to cause any real harm.

What is this about radon in nuts or other food? I don't see how that could happen. Radon is a noble gas and chemically inert--maybe the polonium got in the nuts?

[Eeeee22895]

I'm not a chemist, but if a gas can be trapped in soil or a rock, why can't it be trapped in a nut or a bamana?

[Heiwos]

Who knows what they're spraying nuts & other food with these days. There are ocean dead zones all over the planet from pesticide run-off, and plants are genetically modified to incorporate pesticides, so it seems that common grocery store food could be more dangerous than radon.

[grannynancy]

Originally Posted by Karen59

I believe radon is in the radioactive decay cycle of uranium, and uranium is contained in soil. What makes radon a bit more dangerous is that it can be inhaled (it is a gas)--as someone said--once a radioactive material is inside the body---it becomes more dangerous. Other common radioactive material found in soil would not be inhaled if they are not gases. Radon is completely natural, as the poster says. The only thing I can think is that well-sealed basements of modern humans might be a way of concentrating the radon above what humans have evolved to handle. Radon is heavy and dense and collects in low areas.

Radon degrades to polonium, which , unlike radon, will stay in the lungs--perhaps for your lifetime. Polonium is an alpha emitter. Alpha emiters are very very dangerous if they are inside you. Alpha particles, if you don't know, are the most massive type of radioactivity and I believe, are very dangerous. I have no idea if there is enough radon inside your basement to cause any real harm.

What is this about radon in nuts or other food? I don't see how that could happen. Radon is a noble gas and chemically inert--maybe the polonium got in the nuts?

Someone else who did not sleep through their chemisty class - good post. I don't get it - I learned about radon and other alpha emitters in High School back in the 'dark ages" of the early 70s. Are people not being taught about this stuff anymore?

Radon breaks down to radioactive isotopes of lead, then polonium and it can be distributed on foodstuffs, often falling on the crops in rain. Can't do much about that. Polonium is found in cigarette smoke. radioactive lead is found in the bones and it breaks down into poloniium which can be found in soft tissues.

The whole threshold thing I am not sure of but I am amused at [and scared by] people who chose to decide somehting is a govt plot rather than try to understand it.

[Eeeee22895]

Originally Posted by grannynancy

Someone else who did not sleep through their chemisty class - good post. I don't get it - I learned about radon and other alpha emitters in High School back in the 'dark ages" of the early 70s. Are people not being taught about this stuff anymore?

Radon breaks down to radioactive isotopes of lead, then polonium and it can be distributed on foodstuffs, often falling on the crops in rain. Can't do much about that. Polonium is found in cigarette smoke. radioactive lead is found in the bones and it breaks down into poloniium which can be found in soft tissues.

The whole threshold thing I am not sure of but I am amused at [and scared by] people who chose to decide somehting is a govt plot rather than try to understand it.

Why can't you understand that nobody is disputing the danger of radon? We just believe there should be indisputable evidence that there is even close to enough radon in the home to pose a danger before we spend billions of dollars "fixing" the "problem."

The EPA also sounded the sirens of the imminent danger of ALAR in apples 20 years ago. Whatever happened with that?
Alar: The Great Apple Scare - by Jay Lehr and Sam Aldrich - Environment & Climate News

[Karen59]

[quote=grannynancy;7759088]

Radon breaks down to radioactive isotopes of lead, then polonium and it can be distributed on foodstuffs, often falling on the crops in rain. Can't do much about that. Polonium is found in cigarette smoke. radioactive lead is found in the bones and it breaks down into poloniium which can be found in soft tissues.
quote]


Just because I like to read about science, I'll make once more post and then I will shut up.

I read about the nuts on line--the article said the nuts had 1 pCi/G of Radium. I don't know if this means the nuts contain radium, because I gather that pCi/G of Radium is a general unit of radioactivity--it doesn't mean the radioactivity comes from radium (not a gas) or something else (I think). Radium decays into radon, however, which as the poster says, then decays into polonium and, as she says (I just read about it) radioactive lead. So the nuts could have any of these, or something else, I think.

For those who don't know, a radioactive element emits radioactivity (could be an alpha particle, very dangerous, or a beta particle, dangerous in its own right). As soon as it does, it turns into a different element. Uranium decays into radium, radon, polonium, several isotopes of radioactive lead, and other things before becoming a non radioactive form of lead, then it stops decaying. My understanding is that once the polonium or lead is lodged in your body, it can keep decaying and emitting alpha and beta particles until it finally becomes non radioactive lead.

Our Earth has a constant background level of radioactivity, coming from radioactive elements that occur naturally. Radioactive elements can be created artificially ( waste from nuclear power plants), but that is stored away from humans.