Student places 2nd in poster contest

A local student is among the winners of the New Jersey Radon Poster Contest.

Michael Boldt, a seventh grade student at Howell Middle School South, was awarded second place for the poster he submitted.

The winning posters illustrate the dangers of radon from indoor air. The more radon a person is exposed to and the longer the exposure, the greater the risk of eventually developing lung cancer, according to a press release.

The radon poster contest is part of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) comprehensive radon outreach effort to educate citizens about the risk associated with radon exposure.

The United States Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking and the No. 1 cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that radon causes approximately 21,000 deaths in the United States each year.

Michael and the other winners from New Jersey will be honored by the DEP at award ceremonies in their towns. The winners were also entered into the 2008 national radon poster contest sponsored by the National Safety Council and the EPA. The national winner will receive an all-expense paid trip toWashington, D.C., for the awards ceremony and the winning poster will be reproduced into a nationally distributed poster.