Are granite countertops bad for your health?

[Mermaid]

Is he gonna buy it?

Absolutely!! All I have to do is say "I heard it on SoWal." :lie:

 

[Cil]

heh
As soon as I saw the title to this thread, I thought of the makers of Silestone, who had so many granite owners whipped into a frenzy of worry over supposed sanitation issues. (I never used either a sealant or a special granite cleaner on our former countertop in Denver, which we had for 9 years. We didn't die. I do seal now, once a year, but still refuse to be sucked into further silly marketing techniques.)
Sure enough, I read the article, and down at the bottom it mentions where the funding for this latest Granite Crisis coming from: the makers of Silestone and Cambria quartz.
I did continue the article, and recognize the fact that there *is* a risk, however infinitesimal it might be.
I'll take my chances.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Hey, no need for the stainless steal microwave. Just wrap the plate of food in plastic wrap and set it on the counter. Check back in 12 seconds, and WAH-la, your dinner is nice and hot.

 

[Andy A]

Not to mention the fact that gamma radiation has an extremely short half life.

 

[Huligar]

In what seems to be a genuine concern of the effects of radon emissions in residential homes. A certain website from a non-profit organization out of Houston has made it a point to imply without scientific proof, that natural stone could be a major contributor of radon in a household.

The allusion that seems to be made, that natural stone installed in your home is dangerous to your health is raised repeatedly on the website and in a recent local Houston TV news program.
It’s interesting to note that the two major contributors of this non-profit organization are manufacturers of engineered stone. One of those contributing manufacturers has a marketing executive on the board of directors of this particular organization.

From what may be perceived on the surface as perhaps another “going green” ad campaign, seems to be a different slant on the ongoing battle of the engineered stone manufacturers against natural stone.

Keep in mind that granite as does most natural components found in building material, allows vapors to pass through them that might contain trace amounts of radon. There are very small amounts of uranium found in trace minerals such as biotite in some natural stones. When quarried if a large cluster of biotite is exposed the result initially would be a radon reading. However, once a piece of granite or natural stone exposed to a large amount of uranium rich mineral in the ground is removed from the source and exposed to the air, the radon vapor transmission would weaken drastically and then dissipate. Simply put, think of natural stone as a very dense sponge that allows water, air and yes radon to pass through the stone. Once the stone is removed from the source of radon (the earth) the stone has no radon to filter through it.
We do endorse Radon testing but to allude that natural stone is a main contributor seems ludicrous.

While we feel that health safety is a great concern especially in our homes, for an industry to attempt to gain financially by “scare tactics” or under the auspices of “Eco friendly” is reprehensible. We urge the consumer to not be taken in by these alarmist tactics.

you can read the rest of article at http://nsraweb.com/index.php/Newsflash2/Radon_In_Granite_Causes_Cancer.html

 

[30A Skunkape]

In what seems to be a genuine concern of the effects of radon emissions in residential homes. A certain website from a non-profit organization out of Houston has made it a point to imply without scientific proof, that natural stone could be a major contributor of radon in a household.

The allusion that seems to be made, that natural stone installed in your home is dangerous to your health is raised repeatedly on the website and in a recent local Houston TV news program.
It?s interesting to note that the two major contributors of this non-profit organization are manufacturers of engineered stone. One of those contributing manufacturers has a marketing executive on the board of directors of this particular organization.

From what may be perceived on the surface as perhaps another ?going green? ad campaign, seems to be a different slant on the ongoing battle of the engineered stone manufacturers against natural stone.
Keep in mind that granite as does most natural components found in building material, allows vapors to pass through them that might contain trace amounts of radon. There are very small amounts of uranium found in trace minerals such as biotite in some natural stones. When quarried if a large cluster of biotite is exposed the result initially would be a radon reading. However, once a piece of granite or natural stone exposed to a large amount of uranium rich mineral in the ground is removed from the source and exposed to the air, the radon vapor transmission would weaken drastically and then dissipate. Simply put, think of natural stone as a very dense sponge that allows water, air and yes radon to pass through the stone. Once the stone is removed from the source of radon (the earth) the stone has no radon to filter through it.
We do endorse Radon testing but to allude that natural stone is a main contributor seems ludicrous.

While we feel that health safety is a great concern especially in our homes, for an industry to attempt to gain financially by ?scare tactics? or under the auspices of ?Eco friendly? is reprehensible. We urge the consumer to not be taken in by these alarmist tactics.

you can read the rest of article at http://nsraweb.com/index.php/Newsflash2/Radon_In_Granite_Causes_Cancer.html

As is the case with so many of these health scares, following the trail to the source often leads to somebody trying to sell something.

 

[Al Gerhart]

To start with, Hulligar runs a stone website for stone repair. He has posted the same paragraphs in a hundred places on the internet. As I run across them, I set the record straight.

There have been dozens of studies on the issue of granite and radiation/Radon. Most warn of the need to test, especially those that reported granites with alarming levels of radiation, and in some cases Radon.

Currently, the Build Clean organization is testing homes in Houston, over 100 tested so far. They were funded by two quartz companies, but both submitted their product for testing. I have submitted three brands of quartz products for testing as well, but I can tell you that there is no radiation of any concequense.

Silestone also sells Sensa, a natural stone line, that has been submitted for testing as well.

One of the problems with Hulligars comments is the vast ignorance of the subject of radiation and granite. He claims that the radon will not continue after removal from the ground, which is completely false. Radon comes from the Uranium radioactive decay chain. Once the atom of Uranium has decayed in to Radium, the next step is Radon, then into the so called progeny or lower elements, which in turn continue to decay, giving off radiation as they do so.

So Radon will be emitted practically forever in our scale of time, millions, even billions of years before all the Uranium cycles through the decay chain.

Basically Hulligar is attempting to load the internet with falsehoods on this subject, whether out of ignorance or out of personal gain. I have a blog set up on these issues

http://solidsurfacealliance.org/blog...ite-radiation/

I do sell solid surface along with granite, quartz, laminate and soapstone, but granite is the big seller these days. We test each and every slab prior to purchase, very easily done with a scintillator or a geiger counter.

Yesterday I sent a portion of a slab to two scientists, one that Hulligar says supports his position (he doesn't, is testing stone currently) and the other is the physcist that was on the Houston TV report. The slab in question emitted 171 times background radiation and the next slab in the bundle emitted twice that, 340 times more radiation than were present from natural sources. That last slab would give you as much radiation in an hour as you would get from a chest X ray.

So this is a serious issue, maybe 5% of granites shouldn't be sold, another 10% should carry warnings. The Chinese have been doing this for years, they test every slab and put a sticker on it. At least 15% of the high end granites sold are high enough that Chinese law won't allow it to be used in a home, day care, or hospital.

 

[Beach Runner]

As is the case with so many of these health scares, following the trail to the source often leads to somebody trying to sell something.

Hubby has a Ph.D. in engineering with much coursework in materials science. The granite rumor is just false. Someone is obviously trying to sell Silestone or whatever is the countertop du jour.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Not so sure about that

Hubby has a Ph.D. in engineering with much coursework in materials science. The granite rumor is just false. Someone is obviously trying to sell Silestone or whatever is the countertop du jour.

As I said, there are dozens of studies already completed on this topic, some that show unsafe granite countertop materials. Here is a link to a page of links to some of the studies.

Note the last link, to a lab report on the Houston countertop. Almost a thousand pCi/g or Radium in that one sample. The EPA thought 1.5 pCi/g was normal.

The EPA also recently named granite countertops as the only material having enough uranium present to emit large amounts of Radon. Look at their Radon page, the FAQ's, number 21 on page two.

Hate to be arguementative, but this issue is real. The state of Florida has done some Gamma specrometry of granite countertops as well. Their report will be out in August.

I always wonder why there are those that swallow the MIA info hook, line, and sinker but won't accept an unbiased scientific report from someone outside the industry.

 

[30ashopper]

The NYT has a new peice on this -

SHORTLY before Lynn Sugarman of Teaneck, N.J., bought her summer home in Lake George, N.Y., two years ago, a routine inspection revealed it had elevated levels of radon, a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. So she called a radon measurement and mitigation technician to find the source.

DETECTION Using devices like the Geiger counter and the radiation detection instrument Stanley Liebert measures the radiation and radon emanating from granite like that in Lynn Sugarman’s kitchen counters.

“He went from room to room,” said Dr. Sugarman, a pediatrician. But he stopped in his tracks in the kitchen, which had richly grained cream, brown and burgundy granite countertops. His Geiger counter indicated that the granite was emitting radiation at levels 10 times higher than those he had measured elsewhere in the house.

“My first thought was, my pregnant daughter was coming for the weekend,” Dr. Sugarman said. When the technician told her to keep her daughter several feet from the countertops just to be safe, she said, “I had them ripped out that very day,” and sent to the state Department of Health for analysis. The granite, it turned out, contained high levels of uranium, which is not only radioactive but releases radon gas as it decays.

..

The E.P.A. recommends taking action if radon gas levels in the home exceeds 4 picocuries per liter of air (a measure of radioactive emission); about the same risk for cancer as smoking a half a pack of cigarettes per day. In Dr. Sugarman’s kitchen, the readings were 100 picocuries per liter. In her basement, where radon readings are expected to be higher because the gas usually seeps into homes from decaying uranium underground, the readings were 6 picocuries per liter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/garden/24granite.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin