From Discovery to Direction – The Radon Journey

In this episode of The Indoor Environments Project, we’re taking a step back—and a big step forward.

Join us for a fascinating conversation with Zan Jones, a longtime advocate, educator, and leader in the radon industry, as we explore the history of radon, how the industry first took shape, and where it’s headed next.

We’ll cover:

• How radon was first “discovered” in homes (spoiler: it was almost by accident)
• The pivotal moments that shaped the radon and indoor air quality industry
• The biggest wins—and challenges—we’ve faced as a profession
• What the future holds for radon,  and environmental health
• The critical role of the next generation of professionals

Plus, Zan shares the one word that describes the future of our industry: Radiant.

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just curious about the air you breathe, this episode is packed with insight, perspective, and inspiration for what comes next.

The Indoor Environments Project is brought to you by the Indoor Environments Association—advancing science, policy, and professionalism in radon, vapor intrusion, and indoor air quality.

Transcript

Episode 2 with Zan Jones

[00:00:00] Daisy: Before we jump into today’s episode, here’s what’s happening this month at the Indoor Environments Association and across our industry.

First up, we’re getting ready for Indoor Environments 2025: The Radon and Vapor Intrusion Symposium—formerly the AARST International Symposium. This will be the 39th annual gathering, happening October 26–29 in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s the premier event for radon and vapor intrusion professionals, environmental companies, program leaders from states and tribes, educators, scientists, and advocates. With Sunday short courses and three days of concurrent sessions, it’s also one of the best opportunities of the year to earn continuing education credits.

Next, public review is open for the MW‑RN Revisions—the Protocol for the Collection, Transfer, and Measurement of Radon in Water. This revision addresses both public and committee feedback, setting the minimum requirements for measuring radon in water from groundwater sources. Comments are due by September 8, 2025.

NRPP is also looking for exam item writers to help develop test questions for the new exams. They’re seeking professionals with experience in mitigation [00:01:00] installation, oversight, or measurement in single-family and large buildings. Virtual training will be provided, and participants will write and review questions in NRPP’s online platform.

If you’re NRPP-certified, now is a great time to update your certification profile in the portal. Make sure your personal email address is listed so you won’t miss important notices—especially if you change jobs or employers.

We’ve also launched the IEA Sponsors & Advocates Program, a new way for businesses and individuals to support our mission. Sponsors get strategic brand visibility through our publications, events, and digital platforms, while Advocates work to advance policy change, strengthen regulations, and integrate ANSI‑AARST standards into laws and codes.

On the policy front, a Capitol Hill update—the President’s FY 2026 Budget proposes eliminating both the State Indoor Radon Grants (SIRG) and the EPA Indoor Air: Radon Program. While House and Senate appropriations committees have moved forward with different funding approaches, there’s still work to be done. We’re asking members to reach out to their Senators and Representatives during the August recess to advocate for [00:02:00] full funding of both programs.

Finally, mark your calendars for the EPA Region 3 Radon Stakeholder Meeting—rescheduled for September 25–26 in Newark, Delaware. Coordinated by Delaware Health and Social Services, Kansas State University, and EPA Region 3, this event will bring together regional radon professionals, stakeholders, and program leaders. The updated agenda and hotel information will be posted soon, and registration is open now.

That’s your industry roundup for this month. 

To learn more and become a member, visit indoor environments.org.

 Let's get into today’s episode.

[00:02:32] Diane : Hello. Welcome today to the Indoor Environment Project on our podcast. Today, we are talking radon from its discovery to where we are today, we are very lucky to have a phenomenal radon professional. Zan Jones. Zan is the Vice President of sales and marketing for Radonova where she manages the US and Canadian markets.

She began her role at Radnova in February, 2022, and since then has participated as a [00:03:00] volunteer in helping both Colorado and Illinois pass radon protection laws. Currently, Zan serves as the member at large board member of Rocky Mountain Indoor Environments Association Chapter. She has extensive experience in the commercial building construction industry and the medical diagnostic industry, and holds a bachelor's degree in business marketing from Texas a and m and an MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Zan is really her name.

Welcome, Zan and thanks for being here today. 

[00:03:31] Zan: Thank you. I'm so glad to be here. Diane. Yes, Zan is my real name, but it has some really fun nicknames. So when I was growing up in the eighties, I don't know if you remember the movie, Zanou, but Yeah. That was my nickname.

Then, TarZan snuck in there every now and then. And my first job outta college, I lived in San Antonio, Texas, my nickname was San Antonio. So it's been a fun name. 

[00:03:54] Diane : You do a lot with Zan right?

[00:03:55] Zan: You can just, you can. 

[00:03:57] Diane : That's great. That's great. Yeah.

We really appreciate you being here today, so thank [00:04:00] you.

[00:04:00] Zan: Thank you, Diane.

[00:04:00] Diane : Okay, so let's kick it off. We're talking about radon. We often hear about how radon was discovered in homes almost by accident. Can you walk us through that story? 

[00:04:10] Zan: Yes. The story of Stanley Rass he was an engineer in Pennsylvania and had just moved to Boyertown, Pennsylvania and was going to be an engineer at the Limerick nuclear power plant.

Interestingly, they had the radiation detector set up for people walking out of the plant each day so that they wouldn't take radiation home on their clothing into the community. Stanley started setting it up when he walked into work each day, and that happened for a couple of weeks. That's curious that he would be walking into work setting off the radiation detector before he even entered the plant, but also the plant wasn't fully operational at the time, so this led them to finding that he was bringing it in on his clothing. They tracked it back to his house. Tested his house for radon. It was, it measured at 2,700 Pico curies per liter. 

[00:04:59] Diane : Oh my. 

[00:04:59] Zan: [00:05:00] So they moved the family out and the EPA moved in and subsequently mitigated the home. It's my understanding that they tested the other homes in the neighborhood. The family, after moving back in, still lived there for quite a while and did not suffer from the long-term effects from lung cancer. So it just goes to show that mitigation does work. But that's what kind of brought radon in residences and residential homes, to the national forefront. And that was in 1984, and then a couple years after that is when the Surgeon General's office made a comment and started saying that Radon needed to be recognized as a carcinogen.

And then in 2005 they had the radon gas and indoor Air Quality Research Act. And the US Surgeon General then said it's the number two cause of lung cancer after smoking. And that recommended that everyone test their home and then mitigate if needed. 

[00:05:52] Diane : How interesting and somewhat happen chance by it being discovered to begin with.

Very interesting, but thankfully

[00:05:58] Zan: yeah. It's an [00:06:00] interesting story and that when I, when someone says 2,700 picocuries per year, that's an alarmingly amount of radon, and I don't know how we ever would've found it otherwise. It, I guess it was a good situation to have occurred, to have brought it to the national attention.

[00:06:12] Diane : So what was the reaction when radon was first linked to the residential community? 

[00:06:17] Zan: I think at first people are in disbelief. It's taken a lot of time to convince people that it really is an issue. The hard thing about radon is that, it's odorless and colorless. So you can't see it or feel it or touch it. And so it's hard to believe it's really there, but also it's naturally occurring. It's not like the emissions from your car or the emissions from a factory that you can identify the source and try to regulate that.

How do you regulate something that just occurs naturally? And then I was interestingly just reading an article this week from evict, radon from a psychiatrist at the University of Calgary. And he said, it's because the long-term effects of radon exposure is what causes lung cancer.

Because it's [00:07:00] a long-term exposure, people lose interest. There's no sense of urgency with testing. There's no sense of urgency with mitigating. Sometimes with mitigating, once people find out they have high radon they may feel more of a sense of urgency. But in general, it's years of exposure that causes people to get lung cancer. What's brought it to the forefront is just continual communication. People are resistant whenever, unless they've heard of someone that had it. When I first started this job three years ago- I live in Texas- our company's headquartered in Illinois, and I had not heard of radon at all. I was thinking, how am I gonna sell a test for that? I don't even know what it is. It's been educational for me the last three years to learn about how radon does, how it is such a huge health risk for people in the United States and for people in homes, and people in apartments and schools and workplaces.

Continued communication is how we're going to, keep it top of mind for people. 

[00:07:55] Diane : You're not alone in not knowing what radon was. There are so many people that I [00:08:00] encounter, we encounter that have no idea what it is, and it's all about communication and educating, making radon more of a known entity.

[00:08:08] Zan: I agree. And I've seen that too with. Physicians, and in the medical community, if they could somehow be in inculcated into the training program or to a medical school training for physicians, because they're really taught that tobacco is the number one cause of, or the main cause of lung cancer.

They, there's physicians that aren't even aware that non-smokers are getting lung cancer from being exposed to radon. And so just even, and I know this has been talked about in different associations around the country, but even adding it to, whenever you go to the doctor, they ask you if you smoke on the check-in sheet.

That's one of the things they ask when they ask about your blood pressure and your history and Right. If you have diabetes and if you smoke, just ask, have you tested your house for radon? That can bring it to the attention of the medical community as well. 

[00:08:54] Diane : And smoking exponentially increases your risk of lung cancer.

[00:08:57] Zan: Absolutely. Absolutely. 

[00:08:58] Diane : Being in that radon [00:09:00] environment, professionals that are in that environment, that are dealing potentially with radon on a daily basis, and they smoke. Again, it is so much higher that they are at risk. 

[00:09:10] Zan: That's so true. That's a great point. 

[00:09:12] Diane : Yes. So when do you think the industry started forming around that discovery of radon?

[00:09:18] Zan: I wasn't there. The industry really started more with establishing policies and trying to figure out and established levels, like what's a safe level and what's an unsafe level. And even if 4.0 Picocuries per liter, many people, say that really there's no level of radon exposure that's safe, but setting a limit or something to measure against, a lot of people wanna get it down below two when they have their home mitigated.

But I think the policy side of our. Industry has really led the way setting guidelines and procedures and then moving into having people certified to make sure that work is being done in accordance with those procedures and with those policies. And I think our industry has done a wonderful job of that.

And continues to improve in [00:10:00] that area.

[00:10:00] Diane : So that early discovery really shaped what became a growing awareness and then a movement and eventually regulation in some areas that we've talked. Let's talk about then what came next.

Our industry's turning point. Over the years we've seen changes in policy and science and technology. From your perspective, what were some of the major turning points in the industry? 

[00:10:22] Zan: Some of the major turning points, of course, were the indoor air Quality Research Act of 1986. Other major turning points have been different radon induced lung cancer survivors and patients that have spoken vocally about their experience.

Coming out and talking about how they were very healthy. We've seen professional athletes who've never smoked who have been a very healthy person their entire life, eaten well, taking care of their body. Never lived in a home where there was a smoker, never worked in a bar where there was smoking, and have lung cancer.

And so I think those have been the turning points when you see the real stories of people. That's one thing I like about this industry, or one thing [00:11:00] that endears me is when I hear the patient's stories and I hear someone talk about their struggle and I think about how I would feel if I were to have lung cancer now because I've never smoked, and how I would feel if my kids had lung cancer or my parents.

Thankfully they've never smoked. My grandparents smoked. But that's what endears me to this industry is knowing that it's something that it's no fault of your own. It's not a behavior that you could stop or quit. There is a stigma with lung cancer that it's somehow you deserve it because you brought it on yourself.

Which even if you do smoke, you don't deserve lung cancer. No one deserves lung cancer. But those are the, I think, the moments that have brought it to my attention more. Every EPA stakeholders meeting I've been to in the last three years usually kicks off with a patient story. Someone who's either a current lung cancer, going through treatment, or it has gone through lung cancer treatment and has not smoked or maybe they have smoked. But those stories are very compelling and motivate me to wanna do a good job in our industry, but [00:12:00] also, frankly, it helps us in marketing as well. Some of our marketing and communication in our industry is a little bit fear-based because we are trying to scare people a little bit to worry about their health something that they've never thought about before. And so walking that fine line between just scaring the crap out of people and being compassionate and empathetic towards their health is something that I think has to be handled very delicately.

[00:12:23] Diane : Agreed. I agree with the patient survivor stories can be so very compelling. And when you sit and listen to those over and over the different individuals that have gone through that, you do wanna shout it from the mountaintops and you don't wanna necessarily cause people to be so fearful, but just the awareness, having a large megaphone to be able to communicate out, "hey, simple tests can help you for your health long term". I definitely agree with what you're saying. When do you feel your moment was that you realized that this is a bigger issue than I originally thought? 

[00:12:59] Zan: [00:13:00] One of the first meetings I went to, I saw. Heidi Onda, and Pierre speak at a meeting. And her story was so compelling to me, and that was just the first meeting I had attended.

And after that, heard more stories like that. For people that don't know Heidi and Pierre, they are the people who founded the White Ribbon Project. And Heidi is a lung cancer survivor. She never smoked. She was a health trainer and her husband is a physician, a retired physician, and they speak very compelling about not being afraid to say that you have lung cancer and that there are other reasons for having lung cancer.

Her son was in college. Majoring in environmental science, I believe, and he asked her after her lung cancer diagnosis, mom, have we ever tested the home for our home for radon? And they tested and it was high. And so potentially her lung cancer is from radon exposure. So that's when it stuck with me.

And then I tend to gravitate towards that kind of information more and [00:14:00] more because you know what's exciting about this industry for me could be that at some point if science can figure out if someone has a lung cancer tumor, is it radon induced?

Is that tumor radon induced lung cancer? If they could get down to the DNA to the genomic sequencing of that tumor to actually identify this tumor came from radon exposure. Then I think that's exciting to me because that not only would it boost our industry but it also would enable us to get the awareness out even more and promote awareness even more because people would truly believe and see how they came down with lung cancer.

[00:14:37] Deise - Producer: We will get back to the conversation in just a moment. But first, a quick word from the Indoor Environments Association. IEA connects you with professionals across the country and right in your own backyard. As a member, you are automatically enrolled in your local chapter, giving you access to real world support, shared experiences, and best practices. You won't find it in any textbook. Join the IEA community today at indoor [00:15:00] environments.org and connect with over 1000 members growing stronger together.

Now back to the show.

[00:15:08] Diane : That science would be just such a compelling argument. 

What do you think our biggest challenges are in our field, in our industry these days?

[00:15:17] Zan: One of the challenges I see is communication. We talk with each other. We put out a lot of information and, but I think that our association and our industry is doing a lot behind the scenes that the public doesn't see or that professionals don't see.

And it, it's reminds me, part of my career, I worked for an elevator company. We would measure our success on maintenance by how many people call to report an elevator shutdown. We called it callbacks. Buildings with the least number of callbacks, basically the least number of problems were more likely to cancel their maintenance contract at the end of the contract period. Because they said they, there's nothing ever goes wrong and everything's fine. And it was because we were doing such a good job that the elevators were never breaking down.

[00:16:00] And then the buildings where there was all these problems, and we were getting called out every day that. I wanted 'em to cancel the contract because we were losing money. Those people would never cancel 'cause they're like, oh, we call you every day. We really need you. I think sometimes our industry isn't able to communicate the amount of information and the amount of research we're doing and why it's so important. That's where I think we need to catch up. I think we're really doing really well with policy, really well with training, but I think we can catch up on communicating. It kinda reminds me also in business sometimes you give things away for free. Who knows why. I don't really like to, but maybe you wanna do a favor for a customer. Maybe you did something wrong. Maybe you just wanna give something away for free. But if you don't tell 'em you gave it to 'em for free and they just get it and they just go on with it, they don't know if they got it. They don't know what they got. They don't know to appreciate it. So you have to let them know, we wanted to give you this for free because we appreciate you, and as a courtesy to you, we're giving you this.

I'm talking about a mentality of just [00:17:00] communicating what we're doing and how we're doing it and why we're doing it for people. I think that can help move our industry forward. And I think though we are challenged with resources. The Indoor Environments Association is a nonprofit and all the local regional associations as well. We're all volunteers in this association framework. And everyone's challenged with time and resources. This podcast, for example, is a great example of how we're working to communicate our value to both the general public and to the professionals in our industry, as well as the other things through social media, the radon reporter, other things.

You're so right. Zan communication is just so vital for getting that information out. We do have our regional chapters that do a tremendous job, and every region is different at what obstacles they're encountering, but to be able to promote, communicate, radon awareness is just vital. And even though we have a variety of different vehicles, we are always needing to do more [00:18:00] and more.

Good point. What about key wins? Things that we've gotten right. 

I think some great key wins is that more than half of the states have radon disclosure in real estate laws. My last count was say 37 states more than half the states have certification laws and several states have radon testing in school and daycare requirements.

We've gotten a lot of wins. We're challenged in the United States because. We're not just a one country, we're fragmented. We're 50 states. Every state has their own amount of legislation and their own way of legislating. That's the challenge we have in the United States versus another country that can pass the regulations for the entire country and everybody has to follow that. We don't really have that luxury. But because of that so many different ideas come out of the different states. Several states have radon mitigation laws, certification laws. I think that's where we have won and I know there's gonna be more in the future as more and more people are involved in the association. More and more people see the importance of radon [00:19:00] testing. 

And we, I think we continue as an industry, I see it with the association to progress in those wins, as you said, we have our states, our regions, that whether it's regulation through certification or other type of guidelines or regulation, that they continue to pursue. It may be slow, but it's still incrementally progressing. So that's really very valuable. 

And I love the way the industry has taken an approach with children and like daycare centers and schools because children spend a lot of time in daycare. Our schools eight to 10 hours a day, as do the people that work in those facilities.

By focusing on younger people, because we know that radon causes lung cancer over the long term. The earlier a person is exposed, you start the clock ticking on that long term exposure. So you could sadly be in your twenties with lung cancer or your thirties with lung cancer. If you are in daycare every day of your life, or a school with radon for 12 years. By focusing on the younger population, it also gets people's attention more. I'm very [00:20:00] sympathetic to children causes or when children have needs. Our society seems to be very sensitive to that.

And so we've gotten that right by knowing where to focus with the radon report card that Indoor Environments Association does. We also focus on the cost of healthcare from our radon induced lung cancer. Our lawmakers wanna help us but really they care about dollars. And being able to quantify the risk that this causes and the health cost to the public and to society helps move the laws and the policies in the right direction. That's a big win for us as well. 

[00:20:35] Diane : Certainly the small investment that is required upfront has such substantial impacts for the future. Whether we talk about our most vulnerable, our children, or anyone really important. Okay, so we've talked a bit about our past and where we are now. So let's shift to the future. Yeah. Where do you see the industry going? 

[00:20:54] Zan: I see the industry going toward more heightened awareness. More [00:21:00] electronic testing, more tying testing and radon mitigation into overall building systems. Being super progressive.. I think we live in a celebrity culture or an influencer type culture. People that have a credible following tend to get more attention than people that have all the knowledge. Our industry has all the knowledge. We know the physics, we know how to mitigate, we know how to test, we know how, we know all this better than anybody.

It's gonna take, someone in the public eye to either sadly get radon induced lung cancer or lose a family member to it. That will be willing to take on the cause and to take on talking about it.

I just think our industry is, people test, they test one time and if it's low, they're done. One and done. At least for the homeowners side.

The EPA has recommended that people test every two years. And selfishly for me, I wanna sell tests. That's what I do. I wanna sell a bunch of tests, so I want people to test every two years. But that's really a requirement because we know radon changes, your home changes, that dirt moves, you renovate your [00:22:00] home. I see as more awareness is brought into the picture, it's not just homeowners that are testing, more apartments are being tested. We know that some laws have been passed in the last couple of years where tenants have more rights for radon testing and radon removal or more rights is as far as living in those conditions if they have high radon.

I just see people becoming more and more aware, but also the legislation tightening up a little bit in different areas. 

[00:22:24] Diane : I was reminded that in Montgomery County, Maryland laws were passed because politicians' family developed lung cancer. Unfortunately, sometimes, whether it's a celebrity or someone in a position gets lung cancer that's,

[00:22:38] Zan: Come on Beyonce. 

[00:22:39] Diane : Yeah.

[00:22:40] Zan: Come on, girl. I'm just kidding. Just kidding.

[00:22:43] Diane : Joke. Joke. But I think, we do have businesses and ancillary industries that, 

[00:22:49] Zan: oh, of course.

[00:22:50] Diane : Money drives things.

[00:22:52] Zan: And that's true.

[00:22:53] Diane : Getting that voice out that health is the most important thing, and to [00:23:00] show that for sense in the investment, that can make such a huge difference very early on. And I think as we continue our promotion, our communication to be able to influence that that could be a game changer moving forward. Let me continue. Anything that excites you about where the radon field is headed? 

[00:23:19] Zan: Yeah, I think it's headed toward the science side.

I like the science of being able to really know if your lung cancer was caused by radon. I also like that there's more testing awareness. That's exciting to me. And I like that mitigators are taking it serious. When they see other people that are out mitigating homes that are not certified doing the work, that there's people taking a more active role in policing that. And different regulatory agencies around the country are taking a more active role in making sure that people that are testing or testing the correct way and the people that are mitigating or mitigating the right way.

I also like that there are radon resistant building construction techniques being put in many areas around the country. I know that opens up a can of worm sometimes [00:24:00] because you want the right person that understands how radon mitigation works to be doing that. But by having that requirement in the building code, it does bring awareness to the topic and to the issue, and brings awareness to the home buyer. It does raise the bar on where our industry's going. What are your thoughts on that, Diane and what you've seen?

[00:24:17] Diane : Yeah, so being involved in our ansi AARST standards, right? We have these consensus standards that certainly are phenomenal guidelines for what new construction, what existing work should include. As we see more and more groups, more and more individuals come and really support these, and not only from our standards not only cover radon we have moved into the soil gas area, so we have vapor intrusion topics that we're covered. I'm excited about that because we are seeing on a regular basis the increase in the use of our standards ANSI AARST standards are a resource across more than just our industry in general construction. [00:25:00] So I'm hopeful that will continue to grow and those professionals in those fields, new construction or other type of construction that they'll continue to utilize that and bring those people together that are developing these standards to help us in how we design and develop moving forward.

[00:25:17] Zan: Yeah, I think that's a really good point. And the vapor intrusion issue, I saw that when I went to an event and they were talking about a plume, a vapor intrusion project they had done. It was over a ballistics factory that had a whole housing development had been built over this old factory.

And it was seeping into people's homes. It was a huge vapor intrusion project. It was in a lower income part of the town, they went into everyone's home and or tried to get people to let them do a project in their home to remove it. People were very skeptical, afraid and because they didn't know what it was and they thought that the government was involved, they were paranoid.

It is such an issue with people's health that getting information out about that and communicating in a [00:26:00] way that makes people feel safe. There was one point where I felt like, and I still feel like this, that, radon mitigation is like a first world problem, and radon testing is a first world problem because if you don't have enough money to keep the lights on or you're just trying to buy food, you are not gonna test your house or do a radon mitigation. 

[00:26:16] Diane (2): So true. 

[00:26:17] Zan: And we've talked about this at meetings, and when we were meeting at the White House last year. When some of us went to talk about, how we could bond together to use technology and data to help bring radon more to the forefront and its effects on lung cancer.

Sometimes those underserved populations are unfairly represented in these kinds of things. In this particular case, this big vapor intrusion project, that the people were a afraid and I of their own, of having people in their house that they were gonna be reported to the government for something.

I don't really know the specifics, but those kinds of projects that can affect whole entire communities, even the water supply things that can affect people for years and years to come. I'm excited about vapor intrusion be looked [00:27:00] at more seriously in our industry. I know that radon professionals were being brought in sometimes on vapor intrusion projects because vapor intrusion understands that and not necessarily radon. They behave a little differently, and I think the collaboration there will only help save more lives. 

[00:27:15] Diane : Certainly, it's such an important industry, I'm so glad they're part of our association.

I just wanna jump back for a second to our White House data collaborative that we had last year. I thought that was such a pivotal event and we had the right people around the room, we had some productive discussions, we carried on into this year and we've made some progress.

There's been a little bit of a delay, part of that, which I find we talk about what we're looking towards in the future is that collection of the data. Those tests that are done. Nationally and really tells the tale. And if we could possibly collect that data properly in an orderly fashion, continue carry on with the efforts that have occurred.

We [00:28:00] could really tell the story of what's out there and really tell how people are living. The health implications of that. So I'm hopeful that on that initiative that we will build and be able to, collect that data, continue collecting the right data, and to be able to right. Educate people more about radon and its effects.

So that's one of the things...

[00:28:23] Zan: Exactly.

[00:28:23] Diane : I'm looking for in the future.

[00:28:24] Zan: And to your point, that really burned into my mind, some of the issues that are with testing, because certain areas and demographics don't test because of their socioeconomic situation that's not even on their radar.

Those whole areas of the country, of states are underrepresented in the big picture of the issue, of the risk. The EPA says 21,000 people die a year from radon induced lung cancer. I think all of those are really understated because we don't really know.

We have whole segments of population groups that aren't even represented in those numbers potentially. 

[00:28:56] Diane : Okay. Let's wrap up here, Zan. If you could go back and give the [00:29:00] radon industry one piece of advice in its early years, what would that be?

[00:29:04] Zan: Oh, goodness.

I would say. Way to go, radon industry. Keep it up. You did the right thing. You addressed a problem that I hundred percent know there had to be so much pushback because people didn't believe it. There's still people that don't believe it. I would say to those people, I'm glad you stuck it out.

Our company started in the eighties when the Chernobyl accident nuclear reactor accident, that's how our company got started. In Sweden we were called in to find the nuclear react fallout and the radiation from the fallout in the area. And that's eventually how we developed our radon testing. T' was from that accident.

Waiting for something to be that big of an issue is not what we wanna do. We wanna move this industry forward. I'm pleased with the way the industry started and I'm pleased with the amount of passion I see in people. When I came into this industry, like you said in my introduction, I had medical sales and building construction industry. I'm a competitive person and I was really surprised at how [00:30:00] forthcoming and warm and willing to share people are in this industry with each other. Even though they might be competitors, we're all going for the same goal; there's enough work for all of us. We're all just trying to save lives, but do it the right way. The people that started this industry and started the movement, I'm guessing that was their mindset and that it has just continued through. It's like the thread of the industry as being helpful, forthcoming, empathetic, caring, and wanting to do the right thing to help people.

And it's a business, so we need to make money as well. But that does come.

[00:30:30] Diane : So true. Okay, here's a big one. What thing would you wish every homeowner or builder understood today? 

[00:30:39] Zan: I wish every homeowner understood that they just need to test for radon and that it's a, they can do the test themselves.

They can hire someone to come do it, but that it's simple to do and can be relatively inexpensive to do and then if you need to fix it, it's not any more expensive than any other household repair. It's definitely less expensive than replacing your AC [00:31:00] unit. I live in Texas.

Those are oof, those are expensive. So I think that's what I would want homeowners to know, not to be afraid of it not to be resistant to testing. Just to ask people about it. Have you tested your home for radon? Share it? Whenever you test your home for radon, share it with your friends.

Share it with people. Tell people, give someone a radon test for whatever holiday you celebrate. Be vocal about what you're doing. I'd also like 'em to know that it's not gonna hurt them immediately. Some people feel like if they have radon, they get very fearful immediately; that it's, gonna kill them.

It doesn't! It's something that you can fix.

[00:31:29] Diane (2): It's something you can fix. For sure. That's right. Okay. Last question. What word or phrase would you describe the future of our industry?

[00:31:37] Zan: I think the word radiant. Because we have a bright future. Radiant. It kinda sounds like radon. I think our industry is a bright shining light and has a bright shining future. While I know there's gonna be struggles with different things with legislation, with, people having different ideas about how things should work. I think all of those are healthy and all of those will make us all better. Radiant is my [00:32:00] word. 

[00:32:00] Diane : Great word. Zan. Thank you so much.

[00:32:03] Zan: Thank you Diane.

[00:32:03] Diane : You have shared so much valuable information today. Everyone is gonna come away with such great insights. Thank you, and all those listening, watching, thanks, and we will see you the next time on the Indoor Environment Project.

Thanks.

[00:32:17] Zan: Bye.

[00:32:17] Diane : Bye.

[00:32:20] Daisy: Thanks for listening to The Indoor Environment Project. If you enjoyed today’s episode, make sure to follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone in the industry who might appreciate it.

For more conversations like this—and to become part of a growing network of professionals improving indoor air quality across the country—visit indoorenvironments.org and join the Indoor Environments Association - Because better air starts with better professionals. And don’t forget to follow us on social media for updates, insights, and real-world stories from the field—we're on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. 

I hope to see you in September in Delaware, and in October in Fort Worth, Texas.