Yellowstone County has one of the lowest average indoor radon levels in the State of Montana

Yellowstone County has one of the lowest average indoor radon levels in the State of Montana, but does that get you off the hook?

No or Know? Do you have any idea what the radon level is in your indoor living space? Do you know your radon level? Do you care? Have you lived in your home so long that you figure whatever? It hasn't bothered me yet?

A good reason to care about your indoor air radon levels? How about lung cancer? I've had 3 close family members die of lung cancer, all of them smoked, even though one of them only smoked for 20 years, he still died at a young age from lung cancer. So did the smoking do it? Or was it radon? Could it be a combination of both?

Let's put a few things in perspective for a smoker and a non-smoker:

Out of 1,000 people, if all of these people were exposed to a radon level of 8pCi/L (4pCi/L is the high acceptable level in Montana) the risk of getting lung cancer:

• smokers=120 people
  
• non-smokers=15 people

That's huge! And I think that number warrants testing, which is cheap, about $50. And the fix to treat a home for high radon is about $1,500 to $2,000 (cheaper than a CAT scan with all the trimmings).

Take a look at the indoor radon level map for Montana.

• Red -- Highest Potential for Indoor Radon levels above 4pCi/L
• Orange -- Moderate potential, levels between 2 and 4pCi/L
• Yellow -- Lowest potential, levels below 2pCi/L