Dispatch partners with Columbus Metropolitan Library for radon monitor program
This article was originally published in The Columbus Dispatch with support from our 2025 National Fellowship and the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism.
The Dispatch and the Columbus Metropolitan Library have launched a partnership that allows central Ohioans to test their homes for radon for free.
Library card holders will soon be able to borrow a continuous radon monitor to test their homes for the radioactive, odorless, colorless gas.
Radon has been found at dangerously high levels in each of Ohio's 88 counties, according to the Ohio Department of Health. The gas is known as the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers and has been linked to other health issues such as leukemia.
Library card holders will be able to check out the monitors for the first time during a 6 p.m. launch event Dec. 11 at the Reynoldsburg branch of the Columbus library. At the event, visitors will hear from a panel of experts on radon and discuss Dispatch coverage with the journalists who produced "Invisible Killer," an investigation into the health effects of radon and the policy failings that have left Ohioans vulnerable to it.
After the event, the Columbus Metropolitan Library will make a monitor available at each of its 23 branches.
A QR code has been placed on each continuous monitor. Central Ohioans who follow the link at the QR code will be able to read The Dispatch's "Invisible Killer" investigation and submit their test results to the news organization to help reporters continue their coverage.