University of Calgary scientists want your toenail clippings for a study related to lung cancer

University of Calgary professor Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, PhD, is hoping to recruit up to ten thousand people from all over Canada to test their homes for radon and collect and send in their toenail clippings for analysis. In a proof-of-concept (pilot) study published in Environment International, Goodarzi and co-principal investigator Dr. Michael Wieser, PhD, showed that measuring radioactive lead in toenails is a promising way to estimate a person’s long-term radon exposure. The naturally occurring, odorless, colourless but radioactive gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoking. Despite that, rules governing lung cancer screening programs in Canada can’t yet include radon exposure as one of risk criteria. The reason being few people can reliably report their radon exposure across decades like they can report the number of years they’ve smoked tobacco.