How harmful is radon exposure? Sudbury, Ont. researchers working to find out | CBC News

Radon is an odourless, invisible gas found in most homes, and it’s the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada.

A group of researchers at NOSM University, in Sudbury, Ont., wants to learn at what concentration levels radon is safe, and when it might pose a health risk.

Health Canada estimates that 16 per cent of lung cancer deaths are related to radon exposure in the home.

Radon is produced when uranium, found in rock, starts to decay.

Christopher Thome, an assistant professor at NOMS University, said it’s not well understood what low levels of radon do to people’s lungs.

To find out, researchers at the northern Ontario medical school are partnering with scientists in Australia who have built a special chamber to test radon exposure in mice.

“We’re going to be building a matching chamber here in northern Ontario that will be the first of its kind in Canada and that’s going to allow us to look at radon gas exposures in small animal model systems,” Thome said.

The chamber will allow researchers to fine tune how much radon mice are exposed to, and measure the effects.

“The reason why not a lot is known about radon is because it’s actually really hard to run these experiments without this type of specialized equipment,” Thome said.

Thome said his team believes most people aren’t exposed to enough radon in their daily lives for it to pose a health risk. They plan to confirm, or disprove that theory with their research.

“If we can show that certain levels of radon are safe, then you know, people don’t need to be concerned about the low levels of radon that might be in their houses and don’t need to necessarily spend money on things like testing and mitigation,” he said.

To conduct that research NOSM has received a $1.5-million grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) over five years.

Underground research

In addition to the radon research, the NSERC grant will also support a project in the underground SNOLAB laboratory to see what happens when there’s no radiation exposure.

Since SNOLAB is two kilometres underground, it blocks out cosmic radiation that constantly bombards Earth.

Because life on Earth has evolved with constant exposure to low levels of radiation, Thome said his team has hypothesized the absence of radiation could be a bad thing. 

In addition to support from NSERC, the Nuclear Innovation Institute, Bruce Power and Cameco Corporation are contributing to the research.