We’ve all heard the old proverb that suggests a man’s home is his castle. True, an individual’s home ought to be a place of safety, privacy, and authority. The proverb conveys the belief that home is a sanctuary, and people should be free to live there in peace.

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All true, but what if a colourless, odourless gas is making your home anything but safe? Radon gas naturally occurs from the breakdown of uranium in the soil and can be found in basements. Long-term exposure to this radioactive gas is linked to lung cancer.

In Nova Scotia, roughly 36.8 per cent of homes are expected to have levels exceeding Health Canada’s radon guideline, compared to the national average of 17.8 per cent. That’s based on a 2024 Cross-Canada Survey of Radon.

This serious issue seems to come up most winters when residents of this province are spending extra time in their castles. Years ago, when I first wrote about the concern, I was left with the impression that radon proliferated up on the South Mountain and inland. So, living on the Valley floor, surely, I had little to fear.

A new map released by the Nova Scotia Department of........

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