Radon Tee Outside Houses of Parliament & Big Ben with ProTen MD Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman, Managing Director of ProTen Services, posed with the Radon Tee outside the House of Lords, the House of Commons and Big Ben this week.
Ministers at the Houses of Parliament are responsible for passing legislation in the UK, including the Building Regulations, which stipulate whether new buildings and extensions or conversions must be protected from radon.
Currently, only properties located in certain areas of the country are required under Building Regulations to incorporate radon protective measures into the build.
In May 2008, the Health Protection Agency advised Government that the Building Regulations should be amended to include a requirement for radon protection in all new buildings. Sir William Stewart, Chairman of the Health Protection Agency said at the time, “Relatively straightforward measures taken during building construction can significantly reduce radon levels and we are recommending that building regulations should be amended to ensure these measures are carried out in all new build.”
Since this time, a national public consultation led by the British Research Establishment was conducted, with the intention of revisions being made to the building regulations and brought into force in 2010. Disappointingly, in September 2009 Lord Bill McKenzie of Luton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government, responsible for Building Regulations, issued a document revealing that this revision would not be considered until 2013.
Mr Freeman has written to Lord McKenzie to urge that this decision be reconsidered. The number of new buildings being built without sufficient radon protection currently exceeds the number of existing buildings being remediated, meaning the number of properties containing high levels of radon is increasing. This will result in a greater number of lung cancer deaths each year.
US non-profit organisation, CanSAR (Cancer Survivors Against Radon) is dedicated to preventing radon-induced lung cancer and saving lives through education and awareness, and is sponsoring the Radon Tee World Trek 2010. The campaign aims to bring social awareness to communities through the power of photos, videos and personal stories.
ProTen Services are taking the Tee on a national tour and will be adding photos to the social media campaign at www.facebook.com/
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
