234 GALWAY HOMES FOUND WITH HIGH RADON LEVELS

Date Published: 29-Jun-2012

Over 230 homes in Galway were identified with high levels of cancer causing radon gas in the first five months of this year.

That's according to figures compiled by the radiological protection institute of Ireland.

The R-P-I-I carried out 15 hundred tests at Galway homes in the first five months of this year.

Of these 234 homes were found to be above the acceptable level.

One home had 19 times the acceptable level of radon-that's the highest ever found in Galway, and is equivalant to occupants receiving the equivalant of 13 chest x-rays per day.

Four homes, three in Tuam and one in Headford, had more than ten times the acceptable level and 31 homes had between four and ten times the acceptable level.

The remaining 198 homes had radon levels above and up to four times the acceptable level and were found, as predicted, in High Radon Areas throughout the county.

Radon is the second biggest cause of lung cancer after smoking and is directly linked to up to 200 lung cancer deaths each year.