Developing a National Database of Radon Test Data in Collaboration with EPA: a Pilot Project to Ascertain Feasibility

Introduction Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. with radon exposure as the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking and the number one cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that one in fifteen homes nationwide has elevated radon levels. Although public outreach efforts promote radon testing and subsequent mitigation when unsafe levels are found, data are non-standardized largely because of varying regulations among states, making targeted public health actions challenging. In accordance with the Federal Radon Action Plan to demonstrate results of radon risk reduction, EPA is collaborating with CDC’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. The Tracking Program has existing relationships with state and local partners to provide various environmental and health data, an established process for managing the data, and robust tools to analyze and visualize the data that are made publicly accessible via a web-based system (Tracking Network).