New BrunswickOne day after a government program was announced to provide New Brunswickers with free radon tests for their homes, many people were turned away because the demand was too high. Charity devoted to lung health calls on provincial government to replenish supplyHannah Rudderham · CBC News · Posted: Oct 16, 2025 8:41 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoMany libraries have already run out of the 90-day free radon testing kits that were announced on Tuesday. (Yves Levesque/Radio-Canada)Many New Brunswickers were turned away one day after a government program was announced offering free radon tests at all 63 public libraries in the province. “The demand was overwhelming,” said Melanie Langille, president and CEO of NB Lung.“We had a lot of phone calls from libraries and patrons, even as early as about noon [on Wednesday], to say that the initial allotment had been completely … depleted.”The government-funded kits, which were announced on Tuesday, included a 90-day test kit and information about radon. Melanie Langille, the president of NB Lung, said her organization received a lot of calls from libraries and patrons the day after the announcement about the now-depleted supply of radon test kits. (Silas Brown/CBC)Radon is a naturally occurring gas, created by the breakdown of uranium in soil, but it’s radioactive and hard to detect.The gas can get into a home through cracks in the foundation, the floors and walls and through gaps around pipes, drains and unsealed sump pits.Brian Mills of Fredericton was one of the New Brunswickers who were turned away Wednesday.He said he has been wanting to test his home for radon after his brother, who lived in Moncton, discovered last fall that he had lung cancer that went undetected until it metastasized to his spine. According to Lung Cancer Canada, radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers and the second leading cause of lung cancer in smokers.Mills said his brother smoked a little bit in university, but other than that, was a non-smoker, and Mills himself has never smoked.”I thought, ‘Well, what would be the causes?'” he said. “Probably environmental. And radon, you know, popped up as an idea. I’m adamant that I’d like to have my house tested.”A few months ago, when Mills heard about the possibility of the program, he called the Research and Productivity Council and was redirected to the library. He said he called the library and was told they had the tests but couldn’t give them out yet.So after hearing about the announcement on CBC Radio on Wednesday morning, he went to the Fredericton library at around 10:45 a.m. There was already a sign on the door saying the library was out of tests. Mills said he asked the librarian and was told they were only given 50 to begin with.Langille said the government’s initial allotment was around 2,000 kits for across the province. That doesn’t make sense to Mills. “It just seems that in a province with a population of maybe 800,000, which would be probably, oh, who knows, 400,000 [or] 200,000 houses, 2,000 testing kits doesn’t really cut the mustard,” Mills said.In an email, a government statement attributed to Jean-Claude D’Amours, the minister of post-secondary education and training, said the immediate response was high and exceeded the initial stock in some locations.The statement said while some locations are out of kits, the department, the public library service and the Research and Productivity Council — which will analyze the completed tests — are making sure additional kits are being delivered. “[The New Brunswick Public Library Service] will continue to monitor … and order more stock when required.”In a written statement, Jean-Claude D’Amours, the post-secondary education and training minister, said the province is working to ensure additional kits are delivered to the libraries that ran out. (Yves Levesque/Radio-Canada)A couple of years ago, NB Lung started providing kits that people could borrow from the library to give people a snapshot of the radon in their homes. But the 90-day tests are the “gold standard.”The Canadian guideline for radon is a maximum of 200 becquerels per cubic metre. Health Canada recommends that those who have tested their homes and received a radon level above the guideline should take corrective action.A 2024 cross-Canada survey found that one in four New Brunswick properties had a radon result above 200 becquerels per cubic metre. Short-term and long-term tests can be purchased at hardware stores or through lung organizations. Costs range from about $20, plus an analysis fee, to around $60 on the NB Lung website for the tests the province is now providing for free. More expensive digital radon monitors are listed on the Canadian Lung Association’s website for several hundred dollars.Langille said NB Lung is encouraging the government to expand the allotment of tests available in libraries, “so that New Brunswickers that want to test their homes aren’t turned away at the libraries [and] they aren’t facing another barrier to understanding the risk from radon in their home.”ABOUT THE AUTHORHannah Rudderham is a reporter with CBC New Brunswick. She grew up in Cape Breton, N.S., and moved to Fredericton in 2018. You can send story tips to hannah.rudderham@cbc.ca.With files from Information Morning Fredericton
Some N.B. libraries run out of radon test kits a day after program announced
