76-3502. Legislative findings.

The Legislature finds that:

(1) Radon is a radioactive element that is part of the radioactive decay chain of naturally occurring uranium in soil;

(2) Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers and is the number one risk in homes according to the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health;

(3) The World Health Organization Handbook on Indoor Radon includes key messages which state:

(a) "There is no known threshold concentration below which radon exposure presents no risk."; and

(b) "The majority of radon-induced lung cancers are caused by low and moderate radon concentrations rather than by high radon concentrations, because in general less people are exposed to high indoor radon concentrations.";

(4) The Surgeon General of the United States urged Americans to test their homes to find out how much radon they might be breathing;

(5) The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than twenty thousand Americans die of radon-related lung cancer each year;

(6) The United States Environmental Protection Agency has identified radon levels in Nebraska as the third highest in the United States because of the high concentration of uranium in the soil; and

(7) In 2018, the Radon Resistant New Construction Task Force recommended minimum standards for radon resistant new construction to the Governor, the Health and Human Services Committee of the Legislature, and the Urban Affairs Committee of the Legislature.

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