The following letter came to us from an MCAA member who wishes to share this information about a possible health threat with fellow ceramists.

Dear Friends,

I must share the sad news with you that my husband has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He was playing soccer right up to the time it was diagnosed and found that it was there and that it had metastasized to his brain. He has had surgery and radiation and will be undergoing chemo and more radiation shortly. So far, he is doing well but we expect things will get more difficult in the coming weeks.

I'm writing so that you can put a note in the newsletter about the fact that we discovered the presence of radon in our basement, where my husband has spent a lot of time over the past 19 years working on his hobbies, in our TV room, which is on a slab, and in my studio, also on a slab. I have done a lot of research because of this and these are the important facts for potters to know:
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• Behind cigarette smoking, which is the number one cause of lung cancer, is the presence of radon in the home and workplace. My husband was never a smoker.

• The presence of radon combined with fine silicaceous dust poses a greater threat to health than either alone.

• Radon can be tested for easily with a kit you can get at your local health department or at a hardware store. Make sure the price of the kit includes the mailing cost and the cost of analysis by the laboratory that you mail it to.

• Radon can be mitigated easily and at a cost below $1500 for the worst cases. Most can be done for $500 to $600. The names of qualified contractors who are certified by the National Radon Safety Board can be obtained from their site at www.nrsb.org, from the National Environmental Health Association at www.radongas.org, or from the Radon officer of the health department of the county in which you live.

• Radon is present all over the US. Some states have laws requiring testing and mitigation when a home changes hands and requires built in mitigation to all new construction. More information is available on line at www.radon.com or many other sites.

Potters whose studios are in the basement or whose living or sleeping spaces are in the basement need to take this warning seriously. Families who have recreation or TV rooms in basements or walkouts need to test to protect children, who are especially vulnerable.

While we know that the radon was not the only factor in my husband’s cancer, it was a very important one which we would have removed had we known it was there. The cancer’s silent-symptoms do not appear until the disease is advanced. If caught early, it is one of the most curable cancers, but 45% of the cases are not caught early.