Dark Horses

Conserving energy through better insulation could be hazardous to your health—although the U.S. Government is not alerting us to the possibility.

If this sounds fanciful, rest assured it isn’t. Recent scientific data indicate tightly insulated houses (encouraged by official policy) can trap dangerous radiation that would escape from homes less snugly fitted. The problem is a gas called “radon,” which rises from traces of uranium in the ground, the burning of coal or natural gas, or stones piled up in basements to capture heat from solar power. In well-insulated structures, concentration of this gas (which can cause lung cancer) increases markedly.

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M. Stanton Evans

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Conserving energy through better insulation could be hazardous to your health—although the U.S. Government is not alerting us to the possibility.

If this sounds fanciful, rest assured it isn’t. Recent scientific data indicate tightly insulated houses (encouraged by official policy) can trap dangerous radiation that would escape from homes less snugly fitted. The problem is a gas called “radon,” which rises from traces of uranium in the ground, the burning of coal or natural gas, or stones piled up in basements to capture heat from solar power. In well-insulated structures, concentration of this gas (which can cause lung cancer) increases markedly.