Radon gas is poisoning homes across northeastern Pennsylvania. Most residents have no idea.
STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY — The gas that killed 71-year-old Chris Kael had no smell. No color. No taste.
She never smoked a day in her life. But the radon seeping into her home for more than 30 years gave her lung cancer anyway. When her family finally tested the house, levels came back at twice the federal danger threshold.
Her story isn’t unusual here. It’s the norm.
Lung cancer kills more people in northeastern Pennsylvania than any other cancer. The region’s rate runs 27 percent above the national average, according to the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute. Across Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Carbon, Lackawanna, and Luzerne counties, roughly 1,475 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. About 854 die.
Smoking is still the leading cause. But radon — a radioactive gas that rises from uranium deposits in the soil — is the top killer among people who never smoked. And the Poconos sits on some of the most radon-prone geology in America.
The Numbers
Pennsylvania’s average indoor radon level is 7 to 8 picocuries per liter. The national average is 1.3. The EPA says anything above 4 requires action.
Four in ten Pennsylvania homes fail that test.
Here’s how local counties stack up:
Carbon County: 9.1 pCi/L — Seven times the national average. The county logs 72 lung cancer diagnoses yearly.
Monroe County: 7.3 pCi/L — The Poconos’ population center sees 151 lung cancer cases per year. Many newer residents who moved from New York and New Jersey have never heard of radon.
Pike County: 4.5 pCi/L — Right at the danger line. Vacation homes that sit empty for months can accumulate especially high concentrations.
Luzerne County: 4.3 pCi/L — The region’s largest county. Three hundred eleven lung cancer diagnoses annually.
Lackawanna County: 3.8 pCi/L — Below threshold on average, but individual homes vary wildly. Scranton sees 211 cases per year.
Wayne County: 3.3 pCi/L — Lower than neighbors, but still more than double the national norm. Fifty-three lung cancer cases annually.
Why Here
The geology is the problem. Northeastern Pennsylvania sits on rock formations loaded with uranium. As uranium decays, it produces radon, which migrates upward through soil and slips into buildings through foundation cracks, pipe gaps, and sump pumps.
The Reading Prong — a belt of ancient granite stretching from Berks County through the Lehigh Valley — contains uranium concentrations up to 500 parts per million in some spots. The Marcellus Shale formation underlying much of the region also carries elevated uranium levels.
The danger first made national news in 1984 when a worker at a nuclear plant near Reading kept triggering radiation alarms. The contamination wasn’t from the plant. It was from his house, where radon measured 2,500 pCi/L — more than 600 times the safe limit.
The Fix
Radon is preventable. That’s what makes the death toll so frustrating.
Testing costs $20 to $30 for a DIY kit at any hardware store. Place a canister in your basement for a few days, mail it to a lab, get results in weeks.
If levels are high, mitigation systems run $800 to $1,500 installed. A pipe and fan pull radon from under the foundation and vent it outside. Properly installed systems cut radon by up to 99 percent.
The state requires all radon professionals to be certified. Sellers must disclose any test results during home sales, though testing itself isn’t mandatory.
Pennsylvania’s DEP recommends testing in winter when homes are sealed up. January is Radon Action Month.
What You Should Do
Test your home. Period. Your neighbor’s results mean nothing — radon varies house to house based on soil, foundation type, and construction quirks.
Readings below 4 pCi/L aren’t necessarily safe. The EPA and American Lung Association suggest considering mitigation between 2 and 4. There’s no known safe level.
Retest every few years, after major renovations, and after installing a mitigation system.
Renters have fewer options. Pennsylvania doesn’t require landlords to test or fix radon problems. If you’re renting, request a test and push the issue with your landlord.
The DEP answers questions at 1-800-237-2366 and maintains lists of certified testers and contractors at dep.pa.gov/radon.
A $25 test kit. A few days of waiting. That’s all it takes to know whether your family is breathing poison.
In a region where the geology works against you, that’s not paranoia. It’s common sense.
Contact: DEP Radon Hotline: 1-800-237-2366 | dep.pa.gov/radon