[Greenbuilding] Radon-Cancer Petition

[Carmine Vasile]

Erin, Richard, Reuben & GBForum: I've started the petition "Governors: Adopt Vermont's 5 pCi/L-water action level as a Maximum Contaminate Level (MCL) for  Radon in drinking, bottled, tap, irrigation & industrial process water." and need your help to get it off the ground.
Will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now then forward this email to your Governor. http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/governors.html contains contact info and emails addresses for every Governor.Here's the link:
  

  
    http://www.change.org/petitions/governors-adopt-vermont-s-5-pci-l-water-action-level-as-a-maximum-contaminate-level-mcl-for-radon-in-drinking-bottled-tap-irrigation-industrial-process-water
  

  
    Here's why it's important:
  

NATIONAL
DISGRACE   During the Ford Administration, for
no good reason EPA officials specifically excluded Radon's Alpha particle activity from the Safe Drinking Water Act’s Radionuclides Rule
of 1976. This made it unsafe to use water contaminated by nuclear waste,
naturally occurring Radon gases and dozens of their carcinogenic decay
products. Radon was also excluded from the 2000 Amendment of the Radionuclides
Rule.   Consequently, as shown in the Bar Chart, it took about 30 years for Radon to become a leading cause of death; about 21,000 deaths per year,
compared to 17,400 for drunk drivers. This prompted the Surgeon General to
issue this Radon Advisory in January of 2005: "Indoor
radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States and
breathing it over prolonged periods can present a significant health risk to
families all over the country. It's important to know that this threat is
completely preventable. Radon can be detected with a simple test and fixed
through well-established venting techniques."     He gave no estimate of the number lung cancer deaths in smokers or ex-smokers
that were caused by Radon even though he knew breathing air containing as
little as 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/L-air) is equivalent to smoking a
pack of cigarettes a day from the instant a baby takes its first breath.
Radon-222 (Rn-222) is the longest-lived Radon isotope; 9 time heavier than air,
with a Specific Activity of 160,000 picocuries per gram and a half-life of 3.8 days.
This means 8 pCi/L of Rn-222 weighs 50 E-18 grams (50 trillionths of a
microgram). Yet inhaling such a tiny amount all day long has the same
lung-cancer risk as smoking about two packs a day. Unlike other states, NY doesn’t
require Radon testing or remediation; even when homes are sold. 





    The “well-established
venting techniques” referred to by the Surgeon General have been
established for both contaminated air and well water, yet State & Federal
health officials continue to ignore EPA Radon Risk
Charts in “A Citizen's
Guide to Radon” @  www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/citguide.html and have failed to set a Radon-MCL
since 1976. This is a National Disgrace that no State Governor or President
since Nixon has addressed.


    You can sign my petition by clicking here.
  

  
    Thanks!
    

    Dr. Carmine F. Vasile
  






        
      
    
  
 		 	   		   		 	   		   		 	   		   		 	   		   		 	   		   		 	   		   		 	   		  
 		 	   		   		 	   		  
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