2019 International Radon Symposium and Trade Show Denver

We will describe a citizen science project to empower high school students to promote radon testing and mitigation in rural Appalachia. We adapted a radon toolkit to educate youth citizen scientists. Classroom training included: (1) human subjects training; (2) health effects of radon; (3) instructions for deploying the test kits; and (4) considerations for report back. Youth citizen scientists explained the study to their parents and obtained informed consent. If radon levels were high, the youth citizen scientists discussed options with their parents, in consultation with the academic team. For homeowners who chose to mitigate, we provided a $1,000 voucher. We validated the home radon toolkit using in situ soil radon gas measurements, and evaluated the usability and feasibility of the toolkit for radon sampling with high school students and their families. We will share results and benefits of the citizen science approach to radon risk reduction in rural Appalachia.

This project is funded by an Administrative Supplement to UK-CARES, an Environmental Health Science Core Center funded by NIEHS (3P30ES026529-02S1)