Chemicals in cigarettes and cigarette smoke are known to cause not only cancer but also other serious health problems. Many of the chemicals are poisonous. If a person ate one pack of cigarettes, he/she would die.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is formed when uranium decays in the soil. Uranium is in geological formations throughout North Carolina. When homes or other buildings are built on top of these geological formations, radon is pulled into the home and can concentrate to dangerous levels.
Radon is a naturally occurring, gaseous element that is a by-product of the radioactive decay of another element, uranium. When an atom of uranium decays to radon it does so by transforming itself into a series of different radioactive elements, each a decay by-product of the preceding one. The series passes ultimately through radium directly to radon, which, in turn, decays to other elements.