Citizens for Radioactive Radon Reduction Inc. News

2025 RADON MITIGATION DAY EVENT

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 14:50:01 GMT

Hands-On Learning, Community Health, and Real Solutions for Radon Safety

Homewood, PA – On Monday, September 8, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Citizens for Radioactive Radon Reduction (CR3) and Radon Detection & Control will host Radon Risk Reduction Day in Pittsburgh, Homewood PA (ZIP Code 15208)—an event designed to raise awareness, inspire action, and demonstrate practical solutions to reduce radon exposure in underserved communities.

This unique event invites residents, advocates, health professionals, and community leaders to witness a live radon mitigation system installation on a local single-family home. Attendees will even have a chance to put on gloves and gain hands-on experience alongside professionals in the field.

2024 DECEMBER: PYA Brian Yang Co-publishes in JAMA

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 17:51:06 GMT

JAMA Network Open Research Letter Public Health

December 3, 2024

Estimated Radon Exposure in Eastern Pennsylvania Schools

Brian Yang; Chrysan Cronin, DrPH, MPH, MS; Beth A. Tarini, MD, MS, MBA

Abstract Full Text

open access

JAMA Netw Open. 2024; 7(12):e2448676. 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.48676

This cross-sectional study examines publicly available data to estimate school-based radon and radiation dose exposure to children attending school in 5 eastern Pennsylvania districts to estimate children’s annual additional risk as a result of those locations.

UPSTAGE LUNG CANCER

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:24:55 GMT

Podcast : Upstage Lung Cancer

GOOGLE NEWS: CR3 News Magazine: 2024 SPECIAL EDITION

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:19:54 GMT

CR3 NEWS MAGAZINE TO RELEASE THEIR BLACK & WOMENS HISTORY SPECIAL EDITION - EIN Presswire (einnews.com)

CR3 NEWS MAGAZINE TO RELEASE THEIR BLACK & WOMENS HISTORY SPECIAL EDITION

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Citizens for Radioactive Radon Reduction

March 04, 2024, 06:00 GMT

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https://newsstand.joomag.com/en/cr3-news-magazine/M0059337001468180382

A lens on achievements and outcomes that demonstrate humanity's capacity for discovery, analysis, improvement of health risks, and the quest to save lives.

The magazine was absolutely incredible. In my opinion, it is the best magazine on radon and lung cancer for citizens & radon professionals.”

— N. Burden, Physicist

PITTSBURGH, PA, USA, March 4, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- CR3 News Magazine announced today the release of a special edition for Black & Womens History Months with a content theme of HIDDEN FIGURES. The acclaimed publication has been praised as “innovative and informative” by environmental and healthcare industry leaders.

The content highlights the correlation between Katherine Johnson and the Cancer Moonshot initiative and extends the relevance to the research of radon gas and its effects on lung cancer, demonstrating how both endeavors embody human determination, scientific progress, and the pursuit of groundbreaking achievements in addressing this environmental risk factor for lung cancer.

The special edition exemplifies women and people of color who have the determination needed to overcome challenges and achieve success. Similarly, addressing the calculated health risks associated with radon gas exposure requires determination to raise awareness, implement mitigation measures, and advocate for policies that protect public health. Efforts to address radon-related lung cancer deaths involve educating individuals about the risks of radon exposure, encouraging testing for radon levels in homes and workplaces, and promoting the installation of radon mitigation systems. This determination to mitigate radon exposure demonstrates a commitment to reducing the burden of lung cancer caused by environmental factors.

Highlighting Johnson's contributions to space exploration illustrates the power of scientific progress to drive innovation and discovery. Similarly, research into the health effects of radon gas exposure has led to advancements in understanding its role as a leading cause of lung cancer among never-smokers. This scientific progress has informed public health strategies aimed at reducing radon exposure and preventing radon-induced lung cancer.

Putting a spotlight on NASA's contributions to groundbreaking achievements in space exploration demonstrates humanity's capacity for discovery and analysis. The pursuit of these achievements underscores a commitment to saving lives and improving health outcomes for individuals affected by radon gas.

In summary, the correlation between one person's efforts to calculate trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths, the Cancer Moonshot initiative, and the recognition of women who work tirelessly to reduce environmental and health risk factors, illustrates the relevance of individual research initiatives and how one effort builds a steppingstone to future studies and cures. Both endeavors exemplify human determination, scientific progress, and the pursuit of groundbreaking achievements in addressing environmental risk for cancer and advancing public health efforts to reduce the burden of preventable cancer deaths.

“It is with great pleasure that we present this publication to you”, says Jackie Nixon, Editor. “As a cancer survivor and being told that there was nothing I could do about my radon situation legally, I wanted to develop a publication that illustrates what women 'can' do!”

CR3 NEWS MAGAZINE - Since 2017 [34 Issues]

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:04:10 GMT

CR3 News Magazine | Joomag Newsstand 34 issues since 2017

Many homes in the Lehigh Valley have high levels of radon. Here’s why you should care

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Sat, 17 Jun 2023 20:35:15 GMT

2023-MAY-1-Many homes in the Lehigh Valley have high levels of radon-[Morning Call].pdf

'No excuse for not protecting people': Missouri's lax radon regulations

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 15:54:53 GMT

'No excuse for not protecting people': Missouri's lax radon regulations

By Srijita Datta and Claudia Levens Apr 27, 2023

On the day that would have been Gloria Linnertz and her husband’s 32nd anniversary, Illinois passed its first and only radon bill unanimously.

As founder of Citizens for Radioactive Radon Reduction, Linnertz dedicated her life to raising awareness about radon after she lost her husband 17 years ago to stage four lung cancer.

Radon — an invisible and odorless gas which naturally emanates from soil and seeps through flooring — is the second leading cause of lung cancer, responsible for 21,000 deaths in the U.S. every year.

Lack of testing masks radon cancer threat in Missouri

As radon decays, radioactive particles are released. If inhaled into the lungs, those particles can attack the cells. It’s the first leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers, and among those who do smoke, radon significantly compounds the risk of lung cancer.

Federal health officials declared indoor radon “a national health problem” more than 30 years ago.

Yet, the 2008 Illinois Radon Awareness Act that Linnertz fought tooth and nail for is an anomaly across states. The handful of existing regulaions across the country have largely failed to address a problem that experts say is easily handled through relatively simple and affordable technology.

A ‘patchwork’ system

Exposure varies from state to state, city to city and even house to house, the data show, but no region is free of radon. Since any building can be at risk for elevated levels, the only way to know is to test.

The ALA recommends radon reduction measures if testing shows interior radon levels at or above 2 pCi/L (picoCuries per liter of air), a common unit of measurement for the concentration of radioactivity in a gas. The EPA only recommends action beyond 4 pCi/L.

But states vary greatly in the level of testing required. And a lack of testing can lead to a false impression that radon isn’t present.

“The map of radon policy in the U.S. is very patchwork,” said Jane Malone, interim executive director and national policy director for The American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists.

According to existing American Lung Association data, Illinois appears to be a higher risk state than Missouri. In Illinois, 34% of radon test results were at or above the action level recommended by the EPA, ranking it at 34th among all states.

Comparatively, in Missouri, a state without any radon regulations, 31% of tests signified radon risk, ranking the state at 32.

But this is only among homes and buildings that have been tested. Public awareness about radon is sparse, evidenced by low testing rates and the patchwork of regulations across states. As a result, crucial, policy-determining and potentially life-saving information about radon is missing, experts say.

In reality, the CDC radon test data, which the ALA insights are based on, shows that just 1,619 buildings were tested in Missouri in 2021.

Thanks to Linnertz’ efforts, Illinois’ radon regulations are much more robust.

After the death of her husband, Linnertz tested their home. The results revealed exposure levels four times as high as the level the EPA says a home becomes unsafe.

“I was very confident in my ignorance – as many, many people are – thinking it couldn’t be in my house,” Linnertz said.

To help push the 2008 radon bill through the Illinois legislature, she visited, informed and testified before Illinois legislators.

Like Linnertz, advocates in Missouri are organizing to bring radon regulations to Missouri.

‘Regulation could change their industry’

Among the 20 states with radon-specific policies are several kinds of regulations. Outside Missouri, other states require licensure or certification for testing and mitigation. Some require testing, radon-resistant new construction or home-buying awareness programs.

In neighboring Illinois, the 2008 Radon Awareness Act mandated homebuyers be given information about radon, making it clearer and easier for buyers to test a house before purchasing and for sellers to track whether a test has been conducted.

Linnertz tried to advocate for a similar homebuyer awareness bill in Missouri – twice. But the bills never made it out of committee.

Malone said that lobbying from national home building associations, alongside soaring housing costs, inflation, mortgage rates and the shortage of affordable housing, make it harder for homebuyers to be vigilant about radon.

“When you survey individual home builders and Realtors about their views, you get a very different story from what national lobbies tell legislators,” she said. “Their mission is to resist change, and radon regulation could change their industry.”

Alongside Lung Cancer Connection and the American Lung Association, the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists’ Midwest Heartland Chapter initiated conversations this fall to push another kind of radon regulation in Missouri in the near future. Such legislation would require testing and mitigation professionals to complete a credentialing program.

AARST runs one of two private national proficiency programs in the country, alongside the National Radon Proficiency Program.

Conducting radon services as a professional does not require any certification in Missouri, which Malone said is a pandora’s box for unintentional errors at best and purposeful malpractice at worst.

“Without any sort of checks and balances on professionals doing this work, it creates an open field for unqualified radon professionals to unknowingly or knowingly take advantage of people who aren’t informed,” Laura Turner, who works for the American Lung Association and co-leads the Missouri Lung Cancer Coalition, said.

There are 75 radon contractors or professionals in Missouri certified through NRPP, and around three-quarters of them are in major metropolitan areas of Kansas City and St. Louis. Most are certified to test for the existence of radon, but only 26 are certified for mitigation.

DHHS distributes free radon tests, but in order to have accurate results, the testing kit needs to be set up exactly per the directions. If done correctly, they are accurate, but there’s a lot of room for error, Malone said.

The same room for error exists for professional companies that may be doing work without the training or certification, Cheri Summa, a certified radon professional based in St. Louis, said. Companies that offer radon mitigation and testing services without certifications are abundantly common in Missouri, she said, since there are no barriers to entering the industry.

“A false reading could be the difference between developing lung cancer or not,” Rachel Sanford said. “You can be pretty certain that a certified person will test accurately, but for folks who aren’t certified, it’s really just kind of a guessing game.”

Nine out of 10 times Summa gets a call for a radon installation repair, she ends up fixing a system that was installed improperly, incompletely or inefficiently in the first place by another company.

“Sometimes it’s so bad we have to tear out the system and replace it,” she said. In Missouri, it’s not required to test a radon system after it’s been installed. “I’ve had countless conversations with homeowners where I’ve had to break the news that the system they’ve had for 15 years never mitigated radon properly,” she said.

Brian Hanson, radon program coordinator at Kansas State University, said the lack of certifications in Missouri for radon testing could explain the incomplete and erratic testing numbers recorded by the CDC. Unvetted and voluntary submissions weaken an already poor data set, he said.

“If we wanted to go after any future public protections in Missouri, be it a homebuyer awareness policy or a radon school testing policy, having infrastructure in place for regulating certifications will enable enforcement and compliance,” Malone said. “People assume that everyone who enters their house to do work is certified and insured, but that’s not always the case,” she said.

‘Ripe opportunities’

Other regulatory benchmarks experts in Missouri hope to see are homebuyer awareness programs and requirements for real estate transactions to disclose if the house has been tested for radon, what those radon levels are, and whether the home has been mitigated.

Experts also hope for construction regulations that would encourage installing mitigation systems as houses are built, which can reduce radon levels by as much as 50%, Malone said.

As with certification, Missouri has no statewide regulation encouraging builders to follow a standard to prevent radon, although a handful of municipalities have construction ordinances at the municipal level.

Missouri also lacks policies targeting radon in schools and child care centers. Around 10 states regulate radon in child care facilities, and nearly 20 states have some kind of policy around radon in schools, whether it be new construction or testing requirements. The most recent state to enact school testing requirements is Iowa. The year before, Vermont required it. However, neither of the policies passed require professionals or certified individuals.

“It’s a ripe opportunity for public policy,” Malone said. “There is absolutely no excuse for not protecting people from lung cancer and from radon exposure.”

Missourian reporters Jonathan Jain, Ellie Marshall, Annasofia Scheve and AJ Cassapo contributed to this report.

Originally published on columbiamissourian.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/no-excuse-for-not-protecting-people-missouris-lax-radon- regulations/article_4b6167e0-e220-11ed-8019-e7864b8ac935.html

Healthy Lungs to Speak Out about Radon

Jacquelyn *Nixon — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:50:40 GMT

December 15, 2021 by DCPC

“Have you ever heard of radon?”

Jackie was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2015. The cancer was likely due to radon exposure.

Watch her video.

This is a question that Jackie Nixon asks a lot of people now.

Six years ago, Jackie was asked this question when a home inspector at a community development meeting overheard her talking about her recovery from lung cancer. Jackie had never smoked in her life and had no health issues prior to her diagnosis. Up to that point, as far as she knew, she had no reason to be concerned about her lungs.

Radon

Radon is an odorless, invisible gas naturally released from rocks, soil, and water into the air. Radon can get into homes or buildings through small cracks or holes and build up to high levels. Breathing in high levels of radon over time can cause lung cancer. This is what happened to Jackie, and she is determined to help prevent this from happening to others. Testing and taking steps to reduce radon levels in homes can save lives.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 1 in 15 homes in the United States has high radon levels, and radon causes around 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year.

The “Lucky” Diagnosis

In overall good health, Jackie had not been to the doctor in a year and a half when she came down with shingles* in July 2015. When she came in for medication, her doctor took the opportunity to ask if Jackie had any other health concerns. She said no, but then paused and mentioned that she noticed that when singing she suddenly needed short breaths to hold notes she previously could hold on one breath. Jackie has been singing in church choirs since she was 8; if singing wasn’t such a big part of Jackie’s life, she may not have noticed anything. She had no cough or chest pains and thought she probably just needed more exercise. Her doctor listened to her chest and it sounded normal. With her hand on the door to leave the exam room, her doctor looked down at notes and said, “You have an X-ray for screening included in your health care insurance plan. Let’s order a chest X-ray.”

Two days after her X-ray, her doctor called her with the results: a tumor was found on her lung. A biopsy determined it was cancer. Jackie and her doctor both realized that the cancer was only found through an unusual chain of events with luck and chance decision-making overcoming the odds stacked against coming to this diagnosis. If she hadn’t had shingles, if her doctor hadn’t asked about whether she had other concerns, if she hadn’t thought to mention her hardly noticeable issues with singing, if the doctor hadn’t noticed an X-ray was covered in her plan, the diagnosis would have come much later and made recovery far more difficult. They also were surprised. How did Jackie, who never smoked, develop lung cancer?

Treatment

Most people with lung cancer do not have symptoms until the cancer is advanced. Jackie was fortunate that her cancer was found in its early stages. A month after diagnosis, she had surgery to remove the cancer from her lung. She never had radiation treatment, chemotherapy, or medication and was back singing with her choir within three months.

Taking Action

It was not until seven months after her surgery that the home inspector asked her if she had heard of radon. Learning about radon and its connection to lung cancer finally started Jackie down the path toward answering how she got cancer and toward her current passionate commitment to protecting others from radon-associated lung cancer.

Jackie lived in her condominium for 32 years, but had never tested it for radon. Radon is measured in units of picocuries per liter (pCi/L) of air. EPA recommends installing a radon reduction system if your home radon level is above 4 pCi/L. She tested her building and found that the radon levels were 18 pCi/L on one side and 9 pCi/L on the other. Immediately, Jackie alerted the condo association, and they hired a certified radon mitigation company to make repairs that reduced the radon levels to help protect her neighbors and future residents in the building.

Raising Awareness

Jackie didn’t stop there. She became the communication and marketing director for Citizens for Radioactive Radon Reduction (CR3), where she dedicates her time to raising awareness about the risks of radon. CR3 works on initiatives like the National Radon Action Plan, a strategy launched through a private-public partnership with 14 organizations, including CDC and EPA.

Jackie is grateful that her cancer was found early and that she found an answer. “Giving someone a brochure or taking the time to talk with them about radon can save a life. I found my purpose. For me, this is my way of paying it forward.” Jackie’s healthy lungs keep her singing and give her a voice to raise awareness about radon.

Learn more about radon and how you can protect yourself and your family.

*Recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV, Shingrix) is recommended to prevent shingles in adults 50 and older.

Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 by DCPC

CategoriesLung Cancer

TagsLung Cancer, radon