The North Carolina Radon Program has identified reducing the incidence of radon-induced lung cancer as a priority issue of the NC State Health Improvement Plan.
North Carolina State Health Improvement Plan, a companion report to Healthy North Carolina 2030: A Path Toward Health (NCIOM), identified radon as a life expectancy factor. The designation is made in order to focus on community priorities identified by partnering agencies and organizations. Radon was one of two areas of interest.
Radon is listed in “Indicator 21: Life Expectancy.”
Radon Testing and Mitigation • Reduce exposure to radon including through increasing grant funds to eligible homeowners for mitigation, improving access to free radon test kits and education, and requiring public schools to test and mitigate for high levels of radon
The report identified data needs including the need to have supporting data about the impact of radon exposure in schools and other public places on lung cancer deaths in North Carolina.
The "Radon Testing and Mitigation" section of the report lists the goal:
Reduce exposure to radon including through increasing grant funds to eligible homeowners for mitigation, improving access to free radon test kits and education, and requiring public schools to test and mitigate for high levels of radon. It elaborates:
Radon-induced lung cancer is a predictor of health disparities and instances of restricted access to resources and opportunities for healthy living conditions. Mitigation resources are needed to follow up with screening. Ethnic and racial minorities as well as those with lower incomes are disproportionately affected as they are least likely to know about radon gas and its impacts and may not have the resources to mitigate elevated indoor radon levels. The risk of lung cancer in children resulting from exposure to radon may be almost twice as high as the risk to adults exposed to the same amount of radon. If children are also exposed to tobacco smoke, the risk of getting lung cancer increases at least 20 times. Due to lung shape and size differences, children receive higher estimated radiation doses than do adults because of their differences in lung shape, lung size and faster breathing rates than those of adults.
The Plan lists Radon resources recommended for listening and reading as:
ATSDR – Who is at Risk of Radon Exposure: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/radon/who_risk.html And NC DHHS- North Carolina Radon Program: https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/health-service-regulation/north-carolina-radon-program
See the report at https://schs.dph.ncdhhs.gov/units/ldas/docs/NCSHIP-2023-101723.pdf
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