Dear Senator or Congressman/woman:

Why are we letting this happen?

500,000 lung cancer deaths over the past 25 years because of the radioactive toxin, radon, in our nation’s homes!

Many of these deaths occurred since Congress passed the 1988 Indoor Radon Abatement Act that has given our citizens a severely underfunded voluntary federal program!

Real Families Are Hurt By The Underfunding and Voluntary Focus of This Effort: Gloria Linnertz of Illinois, Marlene MacEwan of Oregon, and hundreds of thousands of others lost their spouses to lung cancer. Barbara Sorgatz of Illinois developed Stage 1 lung cancer a few years ago and was fortunate to catch it early.

Liz Hoffmann was 37 years old when diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. Shortly thereafter, she found that her home tested high with radon, a radioactive gas and Group 1 (demonstrated) human carcinogen. She never smoked. Liz helped found Cancer Survivors Against Radon to create a voice for those who can no longer speak about radon risk. In six years that have passed, Liz’s cancer has returned twice and now has progressed to Stage 4. The five year survival rate for lung cancer is just 15%.

Gloria’s Home tested 4 times higher than the EPA recommended radon action level, Marlene’s home tested 15 times higher, Barbara’s home tested 5 times higher, and Liz’s home was 2 times higher.

None of these women had ever heard of radon gas before they encountered the diagnosis of lung cancer.

There are tens of thousands more families like theirs who have family members dying of radon induced lung cancer (25,000 die annually from radon exposure in their homes).

Radon is a toxic radioactive gas that is at seriously elevated concentrations in as many as 8 million American homes. In fact, there are now more homes with elevated than at any time in our history, despite a 20 year voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Radon Program. The program has been allowed to fail because of lack of adequate funding and limitations of needed leadership.

Please help Cancer Survivors Against Radon begin to change this story. Up to 25,000 Americans die year after year from lung cancer caused by radon in their homes.

Why is the nation’s radon program a voluntary one when we have a growing number of homes with high radon and an increasing number of radon lung cancer deaths?

Please ask the U.S. EPA to live up to the goals and requirements of the 1988 Indoor Radon Abatement Act, and the recommendations of the EPA’s Inspector General that the Agency increase regulatory approaches. And, please restore funding so EPA can do what our nation needs to reduce this threat.

EPA needs to work out a plan with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (the related McKinney Amendments) that requires all federally backed mortgages to require a radon test or radon notification from the U.S. EPA. Please lend your voice encouraging HUD to be part of the solution and part of the problem with this major radioactive toxin in our nation’s homes.

Please ask Administrator Jackson to reverse the U.S. EPA radon retreat that began in the mid-1990s, one that has seen human and funding resources diverted from this critical issue.

Please ask the EPA Administrator to properly fund needed technical resources, or to support transferring this program to another federal agency with the resources and will to do a proper job.

Please do not let the US EPA abdicate technical requirements to underfunded, understaffed state programs. Congress never envisioned such actions in 1988.

500,000 deaths over 25 years with no meaningful risk reduction.

Where’s the Protection in a voluntary program at USEPA that is allowing this to happen?

Sincerely yours,

(your name here)