January is Radon Action Month, and the Cook County Department of Public Health is urging residents to test their homes for radon.
The colorless, odorless, radioactive gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. after smoking, and is blamed for 21,000 lung cancer deaths nationwide per year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Because it is colorless and odorless, radon can accumulate to dangerous levels in homes without the people who live in those homes ever knowing it. This is why testing is crucial, the county public health department said…