![\"\"](\"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/radon-awareness-month-161x300.jpg\" "\\"radon-awareness-month\\"")
Seeking an innovative way to spread the message about radon\u2019s health hazards, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the American Lung Association in Illinois (ALA-IL) today launched the \u201c2010 Illinois High School Radon Video Contest.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agencies are encouraging high school students throughout the state to create 60-second YouTube videos about radon, a radioactive gas that causes an estimated 1,100 lung cancer deaths in Illinois each year.<\/p>\n
The video contest highlights activities in Illinois during Radon Action Month in January.<\/p>\n
Other organizations supporting the video contest include the University of Illinois Extension Office, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor nearly two decades, we\u2019ve been working to get the radon message out to the public, and those efforts have paid off as we\u2019ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of people who have tested their homes,\u201d said IEMA Director Andrew Velasquez III. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis video contest provides us with a new, creative method for reaching even more people with that important message, particularly young people.\u201d<\/p>\n Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that comes from the radioactive decay of naturally-occurring uranium in the soil.\u00a0 It can enter homes and buildings through small cracks in the foundation, sump pumps or soil in crawlspaces.<\/p>\n The USEPA has determined that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer, behind smoking.\u00a0 However, among non-smokers, radon is the leading cause of lung cancer.<\/p>\n Studies conducted by IEMA show that more than 40 percent of homes tested in Illinois had excess levels of radon.<\/p>\n Videos entered in the contest can be created by an individual student, group of students or classroom.<\/p>\n The winning entrants\u2019 school will receive a $2,000 prize to be used for curricular activities, and the winning student or students will receive a $1,000 prize.\u00a0 The winning video will also be featured on the IEMA and ALA-IL Web sites.<\/p>\n Video entries in the \u201c2010 Illinois High School Radon Video Contest\u201d must be submitted by March 12.\u00a0 The one-minute videos will be judged by members of the sponsoring organizations.<\/p>\n In addition, the videos will be posted to proprofs.com\/polls<\/a> (keyword: Radon), where the public can view and vote for their favorite entry from March 17-31.\u00a0 The winning entry will be announced in April.<\/p>\n “Our main goal of this video contest is to increase radon awareness within school communities,” said Harold Wimmer, ALA-IL President and CEO.<\/p>\n “Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and the only way to know if your home has radon is to test.”<\/p>\n For full details about the contest, including entry and release forms, visit the ALA-IL website at lungil.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Questions regarding the contest can be directed to Melinda Lewis of the ALA-IL at (217) 787-5864 ext. 262.<\/p>\n Information about radon, including testing results by county and lists of IEMA-licensed radon measurement and mitigation contractors, is available at radon.illinois.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seeking an innovative way to spread the message about radon\u2019s health hazards, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and the American Lung Association in Illinois (ALA-IL) today launched the \u201c2010 Illinois High School Radon Video Contest.\u201d The agencies are encouraging high school students throughout the state to create 60-second YouTube videos about radon, a radioactive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
\n<\/img><\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"