Research

With your home radon result, we are able to:

Better protect Canadians from the harmful effects of radon gas exposure
Understand why certain properties have higher or lower radon compared to others
Work towards solutions that mean lower radon for everyone
Determine what behaviours modify our radon exposure
Determine the best pathway forward for best radon testing in Canada

Our current and past Evict Radon research participants have contributed to new ground-breaking research exposing Canada’s radon problem. Their contribution is helping us accomplish our mission to ‘evict’ radon from our homes and prevent future cases of radon-induced lung cancer.

Key Findings from our research:

1. All of Canada is at risk for high radon

With >30,000 (as of early 2022) long term residential radon tests from all across Canada, there is no ‘radon free’ areas of Canada. All Canadians properties have the potential to have high radon. What makes the difference, is if a building can capture and concentrate radon to unnaturally high levels.

This means that only way to know if your property has a radon problem is to test.

2. Radon exposure in Canada is increasingly uniform across the year

We have found that the existing dogma – that radon is always highest during winter heating months no longer applies in the Canadian context. Indeed, nearly half of residences we examined showed consistent radon all year, and a quarter demonstrated higher radon levels in summer. We are working towards understanding why this is now.

We speculate that this trend may be another consequence of the rising air-tightness of buildings in the region, but that this is also coupled with the growing prevalence of air conditioning units.

3. Short-term radon test kits (less than 90 days) are not reliable

Findings show radon tests of less than 90 days are imprecise in measuring radon gas exposure up to 99 percent of the time. The implications are likely to impact the home inspection and real estate industry, where adoption of short term testing in Canada has begun. We conclude that short-term testing should, under no circumstances, be used as a basis for long term radon exposure estimates

4. Our radon problem in Canada is, unfortunately, getting worse

We find a troubling, progressive increase in radon exposure within the modern residential environment in Canada. We show that the relative ‘modernity’ of residential environment strongly impacts radon exposure, with newer homes containing greater and greater radon.

5. Alberta and Saskatchewan are home to the 2nd most radon-exposed population on Earth

Of 11,727 residential long-term radon tests conducted between 2010-2018 in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 55% were ≥100Bq/m3 and 17.8% were ≥200Bq/m3, the maximum tolerated exposure limit for Canada. Comparison to global radon levels this region encompasses one of the most radon-exposed large populations mapped to date.

6. Younger Adults and Children are at the greatest risk for high radon exposure

Our 2021 study used >18,970 long term residential radon tests and reported occupancy trends (i.e. how often and how long individuals stayed within their residence) to find that our radon exposure is occurring at levels known to cause cancer. When comparing the ages and number of minors within a property, the highest indoor radon levels also had the youngest average age and greatest number of minors. This is concerning as younger individuals, especially children, are the most sensitive to the cancer causing effects of radon.

Research

All Evict Radon National Study Test Kit Results are Used to Understand How Our Home Environment Influences Radon Exposure.