Radon: What You Don’t Know Could Hurt You

The 2014 monthly lecture series from UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center begins January 28 with a presentation on the dangers of radon. Eric Matus of the Nevada Radiation Control Program will lead a public lecture titled “Radon: What you don’t know could hurt you” beginning at 6 p.m. at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences.

Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that naturally emanates from rocks, soil and water. Radon can accumulate in a home and can cause serious health problems. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 21,000 people in the United States die from radon-induced lung cancer each year—more than those who die from drunk driving, falls in the home, or secondhand smoke.

Eric Matus will present an overview of radon, where radon originates, where it’s found, what it can do to you, how to test for it and what to do if your home has a radon problem. Free test kits will be offered to Nevada residents.

Date: Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Time: 5:30 p.m. No-host bar. Presentation begins at 6 p.m.

Location: Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, Nevada (on the campus of Sierra Nevada College)

Cost: $5 suggested donation

Eric Matus is a health physicist with the State of Nevada Radiation Control Program, within the Division of Public and Behavioral Health. He assesses and controls unnecessary exposure to ionizing radiation. He holds a B.S. in Environmental and Natural Resource Science from UNR, and studied health physics at Oak Ridge Associated Universities.