EPA names January Radon Action Month | Courtesy of Shutterstock
EPA names January Radon Action Month | Courtesy of Shutterstock
McHenry County’s Department of Health (MCDH), located in Woodstock, encourages county residents to increase their awareness level about radon during January, officially designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as national Radon Action Month.
Radon, a substance detrimental to human health, is a difficult gas to detect. Produced by the disintegration of uranium in elements including rock, soil and water, radon is odorless and tasteless.
It can be detected with radon test kits, which are low-cost and available for purchase at the health department for $6 as well as at many hardware stores and through online vendors.
Radon is known to cause lung cancer deaths in the nonsmoking population nationwide at a high rate, according to the EPA.
Contact with radon is highly preventable, however: if the gas is detected in a building, remediation can help diminish exposure.
The McHenry County Department of Health (MCDH) is located at 2200 N. Seminary Ave. in Woodstock. Consumer questions can be answered by the county health department’s Division of Environmental Health at 815-334-4585.
The office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; for urgent after-hour and weekend help, call 815-344-7421. Visit www.mcdh.info, www.illinois.gov/iema and www.epa.gov for additional information on radon.
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