Are granite countertops bad for your health?

[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 Radon In Granite Causes Cancer | Newsflash2

[Topshop]

Funny thing - I happened to see this months issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Those dopes actually recommend a new product which uses recycled glass held together with a plastic resin AS GREEN. I don't care how much you recycle glass but when you put it in plastic resin to re-use it you are still polluting our earth. The only thing green about this is the money the manufacturer paid them to promote their product.

This whole Green thing is WAY out of control. Its all about selling product. If you give a magazine enough money to say it - even smoking CRACK can be green now.

[Steve Patrick]

Maaan... I've seen some pretty "green looking" crack smokers...lol. Unfortunately the ad agencies are going to saturate every product with "green" or "eco" until it signifies nothing to the consumer. I will cite the buildclean website as a perfect example of twisting what could be something admirable to a tool for manufacturers. Very sad.

[Huligar]

I like this video wnyt.com - New findings on radon and granite countertops

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[Steve Patrick]

Nice response from Al- lol.