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I do not care what you "call" it but I have radon tested every house we own and my most recent one did have high radon and I made installing the vent system a requirement of selling a home. Your seller can walk if you don't want to fix it.
Now that you know you are probably legally obligated to disclose that your house has been tested and found to have elevated Radon. Depending on the contract verbiage you may be legally obligated to fix the problem [ie in my state some repairs are not "negotiated" but required to be done per the state]
Oh, I'm going to satify the seller, because I don't want to lose a sale, but I'm just sayin'....
Thanks for the EPA links. I will have to back off on my OP claim that no testing has been done in the home. I still find it impossible that they could isolate radon in a home as the cause of cancer. To do so would mean finding the rare nonsmoker who develops lung cancer and testing all their previous residences, then testing the past homes of a control group. Since radon reading change from season to season, day to day, house to house, and room to room, I don't see how you'd ever come up with definitive reliable results.
And of course studies disagree. A Worcester University study calls the 2005 EPA test a bunch of bunk.
I grew up thinking the sole purpose of science is get at the truth. Now, I'm finding out more and more that "science" is influenced as much by money and politics as anything else. Research is only done as long as someone is paying, and those paying often want a certain outcome.
Boards of "scientists" governing the distribution of federal grants wield a lot of power. They often don't look kindy on rogues who disagree with established opinion, and so refuse grant money for their heretical research.
The prime case is manmade global warming. There are so many conflicting studies and dissention, and yet government and world climate organizations are declaring the matter settled. Few theories in science are completely settled, and manmade GW is far from settled, what with the big name scientists who disagree with it Yet, those who challenge GW are ostracized. GW is highly political and there is big money involved.
I am fearful that Radon is the same way. All I want is the truth. That's all.
I grew up thinking the sole purpose of science is get at the truth. Now, I'm finding out more and more that "science" is influenced as much by money and politics as anything else. Research is only done as long as someone is paying, and those paying often want a certain outcome.
Bingo. This is esp. true in the US. Science has become an industry, and the industry protects its own. It might be worse than you think. For example, there is an extreme problem with unnecessary surgeries (for profit).
I wouldn't say its a scam, but it certainly has gotten a bit out of hand IMO. I never really worried about radon till I moved to OH and there was one in our basement, put in when the built.
Now if my kids spent the majority of there time down there, I would be concerned - not just becuase of the radon but also because they need to get their lazy bodies OUTSIDE. I have no doubt we are consistently in contact with many cancer causing agents (natural or not) that we will never know about in our lifetime.
I've also heard that the time of year (snow on the ground) and the weather conditions can show different levels at different times.
Next it'll be electromagnetic radiation. It's radiation after all, so it can properly scare the bejeezus out of the sheeple. Unfortunately anything plugged in emanates it, and different areas of the home show different levels. All scientific, and soon to be a costly mitigation if you want to sell your house. Surely there's a large group out there with a website telling their horror stories of cancer caused by their toasters and whatnot.
While sad, these stories are anecdotal and unproven. And again, the magic "21,000 annual deaths attributed to radon" figure appears several times. As noted in the OP, this figure was pulled out of a hat and included smokers.
Nobody's arguing that radon can cause cancer. The argument is that the amount in a home is anywhere near enough to cause cancer. No study has proven it is, because there is no way to isolate radon as the sole cause.
It is interesting that one Brazil nut contains up to 54 picocuries of radon. This is 12 or 13 times the radon amount the EPA says is unsafe in a liter of air. Bananas celery, drinking water, granite countertops, fireplaces. All these things emit radon. It's everywhere.
It is interesting that one Brazil nut contains up to 54 picocuries of radon. This is 12 or 13 times the radon amount the EPA says is unsafe in a liter of air.
Who wants to invest in my Brazil nut mitigation service? We'll replace all the drywall in the home, using biohazard suits.
We all have hundreds of species of bacteria living in our saliva. Some of these cause strep throat and other illnesses. The natural dying process could be far worse than radon.
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.
While it may be a hoax, it is a very complex one, since they were able to get the US EPA as well as other Countries to buy into it as well. The plot thickens when someone was able to develop a machine to actually measure this gas. A bunch of scientists teamed up to further develop the hoax by setting levels where action is required.
Somewhere along the line someone was able to convince the American Lung Association that there just might be a danger with radon. My gosh, does it never end.
Now case at hand. Here's the bottom line. The EPA has set an action level for radon mitigation. It sounds like the contract on your house is contingent on a radon test and the results that follow the EPA guidelines. They did a test following EPA protocol and found elevated levels. You are obligated (probably by State law depending on where you are) to live up to your end of the contract, or NOT sell your house, or face being sued by the potential buyers. Like it or not, it appears you are obligated to mitigate the radon, or be in violation of your contact.
You probably had a choice to express your feelings before you signed on the bottom line and refuse to sell the house, or let them test for radon.
I think you're just pissed at having to spend money that you had already counted on from the sale of the house. Look at it this way, you sold your house. If it sat on the market much longer, it probably would have dropped in value more than the mitigation system is going to cost you.
Get over it and move on and be very happy you sold your house. Then get your new house tested for radon.
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.
While it may be a hoax, it is a very complex one, since they were able to get the US EPA as well as other Countries to buy into it as well. The plot thickens when someone was able to develop a machine to actually measure this gas. A bunch of scientists teamed up to further develop the hoax by setting levels where action is required.
Somewhere along the line someone was able to convince the American Lung Association that there just might be a danger with radon. My gosh, does it never end.
Now case at hand. Here's the bottom line. The EPA has set an action level for radon mitigation. It sounds like the contract on your house is contingent on a radon test and the results that follow the EPA guidelines. They did a test following EPA protocol and found elevated levels. You are obligated (probably by State law depending on where you are) to live up to your end of the contract, or NOT sell your house, or face being sued by the potential buyers. Like it or not, it appears you are obligated to mitigate the radon, or be in violation of your contact.
You probably had a choice to express your feelings before you signed on the bottom line and refuse to sell the house, or let them test for radon.
I think you're just pissed at having to spend money that you had already counted on from the sale of the house. Look at it this way, you sold your house. If it sat on the market much longer, it probably would have dropped in value more than the mitigation system is going to cost you.
Get over it and move on and be very happy you sold your house. Then get your new house tested for radon.
I've said a number of times in this thread I have accepted I will have to pay somebody $800 to stick $5 worth of PVC into my basement floor in order to accomplish nothing. And you're correct; I AM pissed. I also admit I didn't decide to investigate radon until the test came back.
positive. I wish I had thought of this before signing the contract.
What I can do, though, is spread information to anyone who will listen that we are all being had. And when I sell other houses, I will, make clear in advance that the buyer is welcome to test, but I have no intention of paying for this fraudulent procedure.
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