Browsing the latest articles on Ireland on one Onet.eu - news portal dedicated for emigrants in Ireland and UK, I have came up against one interesting note. Ireland has a biggest in Europe natural emission of radon, a radioactive gas. It comes from the uranium or granite deposits located in some places in Ireland, but mostly in Wicklow Mountains and south part of county Kildare. Outside of the houses, gas can not do much harm, since it is quickly diffused by the wind and air, but inside the houses radon is called silent killer. Stay in the rooms with high radon concentration is very dangerous and it can cause lungs’ cancer. According to the Irish building regulations all the houses built after 1998 have to be radon proof in the degree equal radon concentration in the area, however it is hard to check all of the houses.
In fact, the high radon concentration in Leinster, especially around Carlow is proven in the most tragic way. New Oak estate in Carlow (behind the Tesco and Fairgreen Shopping Centre) has been the front page story for local newspaper - The Nationalist, due to the very high rate of cancer among the people who live over there. The latest estimates rose that number up to 35 people who had suffered from cancer throughout last decades.
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