Abstract
Exposure to radon gas increases the risk of lung cancer. Preliminary national survey data collected by Health Canada indicate that approximately 10% of households exceed the recommended federal long-term guideline of 200 Bq/m3. However, results to date have been reported for large geographic areas in broad measurement categories. Given that Health Canada recommends the most rapid remediation for buildings with the highest concentrations, such reporting makes it challenging for public health authorities to target interventions to communities at the highest risk. Here we use data from a survey in British Columbia to illustrate how improved spatial resolution and more refined concentration categories would be valuable for prioritizing the use of limited public health resources. We encourage Health Canada in future to provide more specific, community-level information that can be used to inform local policy and to engage building owners in radon testing and remediation.
Key words: Radon, indoor air quality, public health, geographic information systems
Résumé
L’exposition au radon accroît le risque de cancer du poumon. Selon les données préliminaires d’une enquête nationale de Santé Canada, environ 10 % des ménages dépassent les lignes directrices fédérales recommandées à long terme pour le radon, qui sont de 200 Bq/m3. Cependant, les données recueillies jusqu’à maintenant concernent de vastes zones géographiques et de grandes catégories de mesure. Comme Santé Canada recommande que l’on assainisse le plus rapidement possible les bâtiments qui présentent les plus fortes concentrations de radon, des données aussi générales n’aident pas les autorités de santé publique à concentrer leurs interventions sur les communautés les plus à risque. Nous utilisons ici les données d’une enquête menée en Colombie-Britannique pour montrer que la résolution spatiale améliorée et des catégories plus étroitement définies seraient utiles pour prioriser l’utilisation des ressources de santé publique limitées. Nous encourageons Santé Canada à fournir à l’avenir des données plus précises, recueillies à l’échelle communautaire; ces données pourraient étayer les politiques locales et inciter les propriétaires de bâtiments à effectuer des tests de radon et à prendre des mesures d’assainissement.
Mots clés: radon, qualité de l’air à l’intérieur, santé publique, systèmes d’information géographique
Footnotes
Acknowledgements: The data used to illustrate this commentary were collected by David Morley (BCCDC) and Chris Van Netten (UBC). We feel fortunate to have this rich dataset available to address questions related to residential radon in British Columbia.
Conflict of Interest: None to declare.
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