In the context of the European Radon Day on 7th of November, some of the most prominent experts in ‘risk communication and radon mitigation’ published a manifesto: “Risk communication efforts to mitigate one of the main causes of lung cancer worldwide – the indoor radioactive gas radon – are often ineffective. Therefore, new European legal requirements bind Member States to prepare communication strategies to “… increase public awareness and inform local decision makers, employers and employees of the risks of radon…”.
This manifesto is written to support Member States in order to prepare an efficient and effective communication strategy and to avoid the main pitfalls in radon communication. The manifesto is based on the discussions that took place at the three-day long Workshop on Radon Risk Communication at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies IASS in Potsdam, Germany from 8th to 10th October 2019.
SHARE actively participated at the workshop. “The authors present a strategic view on the concrete measures that must be taken by authorities, experts and scientists to communicate the risk of radon to human health and to promote radiation protection actions more effectively”, says Tanja Perko, SHARE vice president. The signatories are, among others, prof. Ortwin Renn, prof. Ragnar Lofstedt, prof. David Hevey, Dr. Wolfgang Ringer European Radon Association, among others as well as the SHARE platform vice president Dr. Tanja Perko.