After Smoking the radioactive Gas Radon is the second-largest risk factor for lung cancer. It can occur anywhere in a house, because it is contained in different concentrations in the earth. FOCUS Online explains what causes the Gas, where it occurs the most frequently, and how you can protect yourself.
The health risk from the radioactive Gas Radon in homes is from the point of view of the Federal office for radiation protection (BfS) in Germany are not sufficiently known.
"Radon is a serious risk to the health, because, after Smoking, Radon is the second leading cause of Lungenkrebs", the President of the Federal office for radiation protection (BfS), Inge Paulini said. Many people don’t know that.
To smell, Radon: Not to see, or to taste
Radon is formed in the earth when uranium and Radium decay, and can’t get out of there, even in interior spaces – for example, when buildings are properly sealing. It is not to see, to smell or to taste. Radon is causing the BfS estimated that around five per cent of all deaths from lung cancer in Germany.
Radon and its decay products by breathing the same air in our bodies. Radon itself is a gas and is almost breathing fully again. Its radioactive decay products, Polonium, Wismus and lead to the bearings, however, in the lung tissue and decay from there. So-called alpha radiation occurs according to the BfS. You can not only damage the cells in the lungs, but also the contained in the DNA and result in lung cancer.
Other organs may be affected, especially the skin or the ear, nose and throat. So far there is no evidence that contamination with Radon can also lead to other diseases than lung cancer.
Risk increases with duration and amount
The risk of developing lung cancer, according to BfS, the greater, the more Radon in the breathing air is, and the longer the period of time during which it is inhaled. Who has over many years, a minimum concentration of 100 becquerels of Radon per cubic metre of air in a room in his apartment or his house, has the Federal Agency, according to a by about 16 percent higher risk.
- The symptoms such as coughing up blood and severe shortness of breath occur until very late. Because the lung has a bit of pain fibers, so that an advanced Tumor hurts often.
- Early detection via lung screening yet) no Fund performance is, however, (.
More on lung cancer, click here.
To find out whether your household is at risk
To find out if you are at risk in your household, recommends the BfS measurement. This, according to the office of “cheap and easy” – however, is quite lengthy. For the measurement in the Affected place for at least a year-long passive measurement devices in the rooms you use the most, such as living room, bedroom or dining room.
A little faster it goes with an active measuring devices. They show by their short duration of a few hours to a few days although only a snapshot, but are good for a first Overview.
These regions are particularly vulnerable
The BfS has already made self-measurements in the Germany-wide buildings. It distinguishes between values in the soil, Outdoor and indoor. In the North German plain, the Radon concentration is usually low. In most of the Central mountains, in the foothills of the Alps and in areas with rock moraine of the last ice age, it is according to the BfS tend to be higher. 
The Weather Channel severe weather in the offing: heat and lightning at the start of the week: 34 degrees, bring explosive air mixture