Decatur OKs radon reduction requirement

By Eric Fleischauer
DAILY Staff Writer
Printed: September 10, 2002; The Decatur Daily News, online edition

After months of controversy, the City Council on Monday required builders of new homes in Decatur to include radon reduction systems beginning Oct. 1.

The requirement, which applies to one- and two-family homes, passed unanimously and without discussion.

The requirement was part of a standardized national building code. Until Monday's meeting, only a version of the building code that excluded radon reduction systems had been introduced to the City Council.

Councilman Phil Hastings, with a second from Councilman Ronny Russell, made a motion that the City Council consider the version of the building code that requires radon reduction. The City Council then unanimously voted to enact the building code.

Dr. Lane Price, a radiation oncologist and director of the Decatur General Hospital Oncology Center, lobbied the council to pass the requirement as a life-saving measure.

According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency statistics, about 30,000 people a year die in the United States of radon-caused lung cancer. Smoking increases the risk.

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas.

Decatur is in an area labeled "Zone 1" by EPA, meaning that the radon threat in this area is in the highest category in the nation.

As of June 31, almost 1,000 Decatur residents tested their homes for radon with kits from the Morgan County Extension Service. More than 16 percent of those tests came in above the level considered hazardous by EPA.