A friendly competition is pitting Saskatchewan against Manitoba in the fight to save lives.

A former Saskatchewan Roughrider, and the province's ambassador for the "Tackle Radon" program, Andrew Greene, recently stopped by Swift Current to raise awareness for the dangers of radon.

He and former Winnipeg Blue Bomber, Adam Bighill are travelling around their respective provinces as part of The Lung Association's initiative to inform people about the deadly gas.

While Greene was in Swift Current, he shared some facts on the lesser-known cause of lung cancer.

"Three hundred and sixty people died from carbon monoxide inhalation from 2000-2009, and about 29,000 people have died from radon in their lungs from the same time period."

"It's the second leading cause of lung cancer, with smoking being number one. Lung cancer is the number one cause of death in comparison to all other cancers combined."

He said that radon might have been behind the deaths of his loved ones.

"My grandfather passed away from lung cancer, and I've also had some other people pass away from lung cancer. My grandfather never smoked a day in his life... Two hundred Bq/m3, which is Canada's safety levels, is equivalent to approximately 15 cigarettes a day."

The purpose of the "Tackle Radon" initiative is to encourage testing for the gas in residential areas.

The uranium-based gas seeps its way into houses through things like cracked basement floors, gaps in concrete for electrical and plumbing usage, and though sumps.

Kevin Funk is a radon measurement and mitigation technician with Swift Plumbing and Heating. He said that radon gas is usually harmless unless it is allowed to collect in homes or other confined spaces.

"As high concentrations go up, we're breathing more in, and that's when the breakdown of radon gas in our lungs can cause damage to our DNA, and that can eventually cause lung cancer."

Testing is needed to find out if your house possesses harmful levels of radon.

As part of the program, The Lung Association is selling radon testing kits on their website. Customers have the option to support either the Roughrider or Blue Bomber alumni with their purchase and also be entered in for prizes.

He said that the winter months are the most harmful, and also the best time to test.

The southwest portion of Saskatchewan is subject to unusually high radon levels.

"It was quite interesting," Funk said, "at the last radon conference to talk about some of the levels that I found with experts around the country who haven't actually seen levels that high before."

He said Saskatchewan is behind standards in terms of awareness for the gas, which gave a good reason for the awareness campaign.