[The Pope checks out our Volga Blue granite table]
A mildly scary story you are bound to hear of sooner or later1
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.
“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.
[Click to read more details of What’s Lurking in Your Countertop? – NYTimes.com]
For me the real crime is hinted at in a paragraph towards the end of the article:
Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking and is considered especially dangerous to smokers, whose lungs are already compromised. Children and developing fetuses are vulnerable to radiation, which can cause other forms of cancer. Mr. Witt said the E.P.A. is not studying health risks associated with granite countertops because of a “lack of resources.”
What the hell is the EPA doing instead? Going to lunch with the chemical industry executives who are offering future employment? What? The Environmental Protection Agency should have the funding and desire to conduct careful study of such topics so that there is real data available for consumers to make informed decisions whether granite countertops are a risk or whether they are harmless. How about instead of buying yet another Trident Missile or B2 Spirit, the government throws a few pennies at the EPA?
—
update:
Dean Armstrong also notices this story, and writes, in part:
Footnotes:But is this a hazard? Granites I’ve encountered have rates ranging from nothing to about 10x background. This isn’t that much. Time spent at cruising altitude is about 40x background at 500ft. It certainly wouldn’t be worth the fuss of ripping up a kitchen, unless it was proven to be the source of elevated radon levels. After reading the literature about naturally occurring radon sources, I have difficulty assigning the radon to just a small granite piece. Any soil or rock within 4 gas-diffusion-days of the basement or slab can be a source of radon for a home, and the total amount of uranium in that quantity is going to exceed the amount in the countertop (especially the part of the countertop that is within radon’s half-life time of the surface). If you covered your walls in granite it might be different.
- such news stories are custom made for our sensationalistic media [↩]
Am looking for a geiger counter that is relatively cheap. I’ve seen kits for building one’s own, but I don’t know if I have the chops anymore. Am skeptical of the $30 versions however.
Radioactive method (by an irradiation streams of elementary particles high energy with the help of the nuclear reactors working on uranium or plutonium) is usually hide from the consumers, it is the most dangerous to health a method of improvement of qualities of stones. At the best case consumer will be informed, that a mineral has irradiated. At full illiteracy of the population the consumer simply will not pay to it attention. And familiar to much badge of radiation beside will not be. Agate, cornelians, topazes, diamonds and other valuable and expensive minerals can be exposed to a radioactive irradiation. As an attribute of the irradiation, is unusual too bright or uncharacteristic color of a minerals, but not always.
that’s is volga blue color granite countertop. we also have dream blue color, please check it, you will find it more beautiful.
We have a lot of info available on the issues. Here are some links.
A full scale Radon test we are conducting, up to 10 pCi/L, equivalent to smoking 1 1/2 packs a day. Look around the forum, tons of info on the issues
http://forum.solidsurfacealliance.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=98
Some older info on the fight over the testing effort.
solidsurfacealliance.org/blog
Some Youtube videos showing just how hot some of this granite countertop material can be.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TCSRock78
And some basic info on the science behind the controversies.
http://solidsurfacealliance.org/G-radioactivity-radon-issues.html
I sell granite along with the other countertop materials. We prestest all slabs, every square foot, and extensively warn our customers of the potential risks. After all, we can sell them something else that is far safer.
Currently, AARST (Radon scientists), CRCPD ( state radiation officials), ANSI and ASME (both material standard organizations) are conducting committees looking into controlling the risk to consumers.
Thanks for the excellent article, and pointing out that the EPA is sitting on their hands. However, in their defense, they have swatted the stone industries lobby group’s attempt to take control over the setting of standards and several of the top EPA officials are watching developments. Budget concerns do prevent them from acting, but they are attempting to encourage researchers to continue looking into the threat. There are two studies currently undergoing the peer review process, both will show the risks present, and once these are published, it will allow the EPA to act administratively.
The EPA is listening, initialy they backed the MIA (stone association), then did a 180, revised their advice to that there were granites being sold at or above “source” grade (nuclear fuel) and that consumers should test their choices of granite prior to purchase.