By Brian Owens, Reporter
Residents in Charlotte County are being encouraged to test their homes for radon – an invisible, odourless gas that is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.
“Radon really is everywhere and we can’t predict which houses will have elevated levels, so everybody should be testing,” said Pam Warkentin, executive director of the Canadian Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists (CARST).
Last winter 76 households in St. Stephen took part in a testing initiative under the national Take Action on Radon program. The study found that 13 per cent of the homes tested were above Health Canada’s guideline of 200 becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m3), above which mitigation is recommended.
A study of more than 300 homes in Saint Andrews in 2024 found about 10 per cent were above the guideline. Full results from a testing initiative in Eastern Charlotte have not yet been published, but Warkentin, who leads the national program, said they were closer to the provincial average of 21 per cent of homes above the guideline.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes from the breakdown of uranium in the ground. The gas can enter homes through small cracks in foundation floors and walls, gaps around service pipes, floor drains and unsealed sump pits. Granite can be a source of uranium deposits, which may be one reason levels are higher in Eastern Charlotte.
New Brunswick as a whole has some of the highest levels of radon in the country – in some parts of the province as many as 40 per cent of homes are above the guideline. In Nova Scotia around 11 per cent of homes are above the guideline, while PEI has just 3.5 per cent of homes above 200 Bq/m3.
Warkentin said scientists have tried to determine what factors might predict whether a particular house has high levels of radon, but so far have been unsuccessful.
“No matter the house age, heating method, or location, you can’t tell what the level is unless you test,” she said.
Testing takes at least 90 days, and is best done over the winter months when houses are more tightly sealed. Free radon tests are available from all public libraries in the province. Both the St. Croix Library in St. Stephen and the Ross Memorial Library in Saint Andrews are currently out of tests, but are expecting more to arrive soon.
Melanie Langille, president and CEO of the New Brunswick Lung Association, welcomed the launch of the free test kits, but called on the government to also help residents with the costs associated with mitigation.
“NB Lung urges the Province to follow this important first step with additional actions, as moved in the Legislature last November. The Province committed to exploring options to support New Brunswickers with the cost of radon mitigation,” she said.
Mitigation options
Health Canada recommends that homeowners should take action to reduce radon if the level is above 200 Bq/m3. While the risk below that level is small, there is no level that is considered risk free. Warkentin recommends that those with levels between 100 and 200 Bq/m3 test again in five years, or after doing renovations, including energy efficiency upgrades.
The good news, said Warkentin, is that high radon levels are usually easily fixed.
Andrew Shipley, owner of Radon Plus in Quispamsis, one of seven radon mitigation specialists in New Brunswick, said a typical radon mitigation system costs around $2,400. It usually involves a sub-slab depressurisation system, he said, which creates a vacuum under the slab of the basement floor and draws the gas to an extraction fan which exhausts it to the outside of the house. A similar process, using heavy plastic sheeting as a membrane, is used in crawlspaces. If the basement has a dirt floor the process is more complicated and may require putting in a concrete slab, but mitigation is still possible.
The systems run 24 hours a day and are 98 per cent effective, he said, and can usually drop radon levels below the guideline within the first day of operation.
Shipley said that unlike other household environmental hazards like mold or asbestos, radon is something that is present in every home.
“It’s everywhere in the environment, but it’s testable and can be removed,” he said. “The main thing is to test, and if it’s high, get it looked at. This is one cancer [risk] we can actually do something about.”
