溫哥華驗屋師感言 Vancouver Home Inspector Journal : February 2009

Recently, severe bedbug infestations found in hotel and apartment of major cities of USA and Canada. e.g. Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. I had never heard any outbreak in Richmond. However we have to take caution. Please call pest control specialist when you see a supected insect in your house. Here is a Bed bug Registry online.

Fact Sheets and Guide:
City of Toronto - Bed bug fact sheets
Vancouver Coastal Health - Guide to bed bug control

Related news:
2008/05/15 The Tyee - Vancouver's Bedbug Plague
2009/03/02 World journal - 溫市臭蟲數量五年增十倍
2010/09/12 Sing Tao - 床虱肆虐成全國大患
2010/09/21 CBC - Bedbug summit opens in Chicago
2010/10/13 Sing Tao - 撥款2萬殺蟲特訓犬也出動. 西大宿舍12房間驚現床虱
2011/05/12 Vancouver Sun - St. Paul's links bedbugs to superbugs
2011/05/14 World Journal - 驚致命床蝨藏身3溫東遊民
2011/10/20 World Journal - 卑詩房屋廳砸75萬滅床蝨 / 本拿比圖書館請特種犬緝蝨
2011/10/29 World Journal - 床蝨侵襲警局淪陷
2013/02/23 World Journal - 社福住屋床蝨再現居民無床可睡
2014/02/25 MingPao - 殺蟲劑釀5童死傷證屬磷化鋁遇潮釋毒
2015/05/06 Men's Journal - How Not to Get Bed Bugs from Hotels
2015/05/15 Richmond Review - Richmond condo hit with bed bug infestation
2016/02/07 SF Globe - How to look for and avoid bedbugs in a hotel room

2023/03/21 Sing Tao - 滅蟲公司發表牀蝨報告多倫多連續四年穩居全國牀蝨榜首

2023/04/132 Sing Tao - 未提醒租客屋內有臭蟲大溫房東須賠5千多元

Monday, February 9, 2009

Is Radon gas in your home? 您家有氡氣嗎？

Radon is a colourless, odourless, radioactive gas that occurs naturally in the environment. It comes from the natural breakdown of uranium in soils and rocks. The Maclean's magazine reports 2,000 Canadian die from radon exposure in their home. (click on the photo)

In 2007, we had protocols done by the BC Centre for Disease Control. A BC radon map was made (see map below). In 2021 BC Radon Data Repository (BCRDR) shows the average of 54 Richmond samples have 11 Bq/m3. (see the interactive map)

Health Canada plans to spend almost $1 million testing 18,000 randomly chosen homes to make a "radon potential map". The final report was released in March 2012. 54 samples were collected from Richmond and 100% were below 200 Bq/m3.

Please don't panic, on average only 2.5% of households contain "unsafe" levels (more than 200 becquerels per cubic metre). The Richmond houses are far away from the affected BC interior area.

No smoking! and keep good ventilation in your home.

氡氣是無色無臭的放射性氣體，由泥土及岩石中微量的鈾自然分解出來。室內的氡氣來自地基裂縫、建築用石材及食水。是主要環境致癌物質之一，也是吸菸以外引發肺癌的第二大殺手。每年有2000加人致死原因與家中含放射性元素有關。

聯邦衛生局將動用一百萬元為一萬八千家庭測試氡氣含量，並會繪畫氡氣分佈圖。2007年卑斯省已完成試驗製成分佈圖(見附圖)。從圖中所見，列治文市並不在 200 becquerels per cubic metre 高危範圍內。

2021年卑詩綜合數據庫顯示列治文收到的54個樣本，平均值只有 11 Bq/m3。

2012年公佈的全國普查亦証實列治文收到的54個樣本，全部合乎低於 200 Bq/m3 的標準。

請勿吸香煙！並保持室內空氣清新即可確保健康。