Radon gas suspected in Prince George, B.C., family tragedy

Prince George, B.C., is a hot spot for radon, according to the largest community test ever conducted in Canada for the deadly gas.

Radon is caused by the decay of uranium in rocks and soil. It ispresent across Canada,seeps into homes from the ground and is known to cause cancer.

Knowing about the gas came too late for Al Huggett, a social worker in Prince George.

"We thought about getting testing, but we kept putting it off," he said. "It was not really high on our list of things to do."

Sudden sickness

Suddenly his wife, Sandra, became sick.

"Last year at about this time, she had a cough, pain in her chest," he said. "I took herto emergency. She had Stage 4 lung cancer."

The mother of two was a kindergarten teacher, avid about outdoor recreation and did not smoke.

"It was quite a shock," said Huggett.

Sandra Huggett died six months after being diagnosed, at the age of 54.

Radon blamed

Doctors told her husband that radon was likely to blame.

"It is a leading cause of lung cancer in Canada," saidBritt Swoveland, spokeswoman for theRadonAware program with theBritish Columbia Lung Association. "The No. 1 cause in non-smokers and never-smokers, the second leading cause behind tobacco."

The lung associationhas released to Prince George city councilthe results of testsdoneon 2,000homes.

Thirty per cent tested higher than the national standard.

In the central part of the city the V2M postal code 56 per centof homes tested higher than the national standard.

"It's naturallyoccurring, radioactive, tasteless, colourless, odourless," said Swoveland. "You just don't know it's in your house unless you test."

$30 test

Tests cost $30 and dangerous homes can be fixed most of the time for less that $2,000. New building codes are being introduced thatshould prevent radon being a problem in new homes.

"There's tons of room for our society to do something about this issue," said Huggett. "It's not an expensive thing, but it would save thousands of lives."