The Vice-President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS), Professor Aba Bentil Andam, has drawn attention to the fact that a high concentration of naturally occurring radioactive materials such as radon, when inhaled for a longer period, could cause lung cancer,
 She said radon was the emerging radioactive gas that caused lung cancer when inhaled for a longer period, for which reason it was necessary to have a national radon map to help identify the geographical areas where the population was most at risk of exposure above the reference levels established by the World Health Organisation.
Prof Andam made this known when she delivered a lecture at the GAAS annual lecture on the  theme: “Naturally occurring radioactive materials in our homes”.
She said recent studies on indoor and lung cancer in Europe, North America and Asia indicated that radon causes a substantial number of lung cancers in the general population.
“Due to the intake of radon gas, the radioactive radon progeny species are deposited in the respiratory organs, hence the lung organs receive almost the entire dose,” she said.
She explained that radon emanates from rocks and the soil and tends to concentrate in enclosed spaces such as underground mines or houses, adding that other sources were building materials and underground water.
She said one method to decrease the level of radon was to increase ventilation of the home and buildings to allow the radon to escape.
Another method was to seal floors and cracks to reduce the radon indoors.
Prof Andam said it was also necessary for a monitoring programme to be carried out nationwide to measure radon content in the air indoors, taking into account t new scientific findings.
“There should be a national programme for estimating radon levels and effective doses to persons in the indoor environment of Ghana and regrouping all efforts dealing with it and turn them into collective work,” she said.
She also said educational programmes were essential for health officials and the public to make them aware of the health threat from radon and associated risk factors such as smoking.
Prof Andam called for scientific research on radon applications in earth sciences and radiation safety at nuclear and industrial facilities.