A study just released by the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary shows radon levels in many homes in High River and Okotoks exceed Health Canada's acceptable levels.

Associate Professor Aaron Goodarzi says radon is a natural component of soil gas, especially across the prairies where there are a lot of uranium bearing minerals. As uranium decays it eventually turns into radon and so the solid uranium, thorium and radium in the ground, as it emerges from the ground the radon is pushed up because the high pressure gas in soil seeks the path of least resistance into the atmosphere.

If it happens under our homes it seeps in through the basement foundation.

"Radon is dangerous because it's radioactive, like uranium and radium, it's unstable and as we inhale it there's a good chance it will decay, emitting radiation in our lungs,"  Goodarzi says. "That radon, called alpha radiation is particularly damaging to our DNA and the DNA of the lung cell is being damaged and mutated and those cells as they're being mutated drive those cells towards cancer."

Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and according to the Canadian Cancer Society it's estimated there are more than 3,300 cancer deaths in Canada each year related to radon.

He says radon is categorized by the World Health Organization as category one, which is the same as mustard gas, asbestos and tobacco.

Goodarzi says in High River and Okotoks they found the average radon concentration of houses was pretty close to Health Canada's maximum acceptable level. He says they would have liked to have had more homes in the towns tested and expects the levels might have come down a little bit.

He says the prevalence of radon is higher in newer homes because they're built to higher energy efficiency standards and air doesn't circulate as well.

Goodarzi urges homes owners to get their homes tested either through the university's program or through Health Canada certified professionals. It costs about $60.

He says remediation is fairly simple and almost 100 per cent effective.