Health Canada plans stricter radon guidelines
Mandatory testing for radon gas in private homes may become a condition of sale if Health Canada adopts recommendations for stricter radon guidelines.
Routine testing is just one of the suggestions in a report prepared for Health Canada by the Radon Working Group on acceptable levels of radon in Canadian homes. The report notes that as people make their homes tighter and more energy efficient, they may also be inadvertently raising radon levels. Along with recommending higher standards, the group is also suggesting the government should consider a system of grants and subsidies to help homeowners with the costs of testing and cleaning up of radon gas.
Radon is an odourless radioactive gas that occurs naturally in the environment and is caused by the natural breakdown of uranium in soils and rocks. Radon can seep into a house through dirt floors, cracks in concrete walls and floors, sumps, basement drains, and through concrete block walls. In the open air it does not pose a health risk, but in an enclosed space such as a mine or a basement, breathing in radon decay products can lead to lung cancer. The Health Canada report estimates that lung cancers from radon exposure account for about 10 per cent of all lung cancers, second only behind smoking.
Radon gas levels are measured in a unit called the becquerel (Bq). One becquerel is an extremely small unit, described as one event of radiation emission per second.
Prior to the review, the radon levels considered safe in Canada – 800 Bq – were almost five times higher than in the rest of the world. Now Health Canada is recommending the level considered safe be reduced to 200 Bq – the same level that’s considered safe in the United States.
Concern in Canada about indoor radon levels began in the mid-1970’s when some homes in communities where uranium ore was either mined or processed were found to have elevated radon concentrations. After this discovery, Health Canada surveyed the radon levels in 14,000 homes in 18 cities across Canada. The majority of homes surveyed showed low concentrations of radon. “Certain areas in Ontario including Elliot Lake and Kirkland Lake contain higher concentrations of radon than others,” says Andrew Dixon, Ontario Association of Home Inspectors (OAHI) President. “Pockets have also been found in Kitchener-Waterloo, Port Hope, Scarborough and other parts of the province.”
While Dixon says home inspectors are not required to examine for radon, some inspectors with radon inspection experience may offer it as an added service for an additional cost. “However, if I am conducting a home inspection and notice a crack or a bulge in the wall, I will recommend the homeowner have the problem investigated by a qualified professional.”
With the recommendations scheduled to be adopted early this year by Health Canada, Dixon says REALTORS® and home inspectors may be asking sellers to get their houses tested for radon in the near future and, if there is a problem, recommending remedial action. "What both REALTORS® and home inspectors need is a map of the hot spots in Ontario so as best to help our clients," says Dixon.
Reducing radon levels
The good news is testing for radon and carrying out the necessary repairs is not overly expensive. According to the Health Canada report, the average cost is about $50-$100 per test and the average mitigation cost would be about $1,200 - $1,500 per house. A bulletin on Health Canada’s Web site states: “Radon levels can usually be significantly reduced by renovating existing basement floors, particularly earth floors, sealing cracks and openings in walls and floors, and around pipes and drains, and ventilating the sub-floor of basement floors.”
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) publication called, Radon: A Guide for Canadian Homeowners, produced jointly by CMHC and Health Canada, describes the most popular radon detectors as “the charcoal canister, the electrets and the alpha track detector. These devices are exposed to the air in a home for a specified period of time, and then sent to a laboratory for analysis. There are other techniques for testing radon levels, but they require a trained operator and are more expensive.”
To view or download the publication, visit http://www.cmhc.ca/, or visit the Health Canada Web site at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/.
Formaldehyde levels should be reduced
Health Canada recommends new guidelines
The federal government is recommending that the acceptable levels of exposure to the toxic chemical formaldehyde be reduced to help improve air quality in Canadian homes. Formaldehyde can be found in many building products and is present at some levels in most homes. It is believed to aggravate asthma and allergies in some people and, in high concentrations and longer exposures, has been linked to some forms of cancer.
formaldehyde is commonly used as an adhesive agent in certain types of plywood and particleboards, such as MDF. It can be found in paint, textiles and furniture made with particleboard in modern homes.
Health Canada wants to change the guidelines and reduce the recommended maximum exposure levels. The current guidelines, which were released in 1987, advise consumers to take action to reduce formaldehyde emissions if the level in indoor air reaches 100 parts per billion (ppb), and recommends reducing the level to 50 ppb.
New regulations proposed recommend limiting short-term exposure of more than 100 ppb to one hour, and 40 ppb for more than eight hours. The department says the guidelines with help health professionals and health inspectors when they try to determine if indoor air constitutes an unacceptable risk. The new guidelines would not be legally enforceable, however, and would not be adopted until interested parties have an opportunity to comment.
Health Canada conducted a study of homes in Prince Edward Island and Ottawa in 2002 and found that the levels of formaldehyde ranged from 2 ppb to 81 ppb.
The department considers the levels in Canadian homes "well below levels of concern for cancer."
At about 100 ppb, formaldehyde off-gassing can cause irritation of nose, eyes and skin. But there is still no clear evidence that typical levels in the home cause cancer. "I don't think it will have significant immediate implications for housing," said Jim Robar, director of technical research for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. "Certainly, formaldehyde is there, but overall the levels are manageable in housing."
In higher concentrations and long-term exposure, there is evidence linking formaldehyde to the nasal cancer and throat cancer. Studies conducted by the U.S. National Cancer Institute also found an increased risk of leukemia and brain cancer among embalmers – who are repeatedly exposed to the chemical – compared to the general population. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers formaldehyde a "probable" human carcinogen while the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last year reclassified it as a known carcinogen.