This is what's wrong with our economy !

[Warrior07]

Now counter top companys are going to feel it worse effin media all they do is stir up chit and make people scared to do anything !

What’s Lurking in Your Countertop?

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.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

TESTING Reports of granite emitting high levels of radon and radiation are increasing.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

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 health risk to me and my family was probably small,” Dr. Sugarman said, “but I felt it was an unnecessary risk.”

As the popularity of granite countertops has grown in the last decade — demand for them has increased tenfold, according to the Marble Institute of America, a trade group representing granite fabricators — so have the types of granite available. For example, one source, Graniteland (graniteland.com) offers more than 900 kinds of granite from 63 countries. And with increased sales volume and variety, there have been more reports of “hot” or potentially hazardous countertops, particularly among the more exotic and striated varieties from Brazil and Namibia.

“It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said Stanley Liebert, the quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories in Clifton Park, N.Y., who took radiation measurements at Dr. Sugarman’s house. “But I’ve seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little.”

Allegations that granite countertops may emit dangerous levels of radon and radiation have been raised periodically over the past decade, mostly by makers and distributors of competing countertop materials. The Marble Institute of America has said such claims are “ludicrous” because although granite is known to contain uranium and other radioactive materials like thorium and potassium, the amounts in countertops are not enough to pose a health threat.

THIS IS ACTUALLY LONGER BUT YOU GET THE POINT !! I KNOW IT'S HEALTH CAUTIOUS BUT IMO THE MEDIA IS A BIG PART OF TOSSING AROUND

[britincali]

I worked at a granite quarry for years and they would test for radon every year, the guy told me the only place it could be an issue was direcly above the crusher and even then the amounts were not enough to cause harm (unless you stayed there 24/7 but the silicosis would get you before the radioactivity would!)

The only time the gas is emitted is when the stone is cut or broken, you aint gonna get sh*t from a countertop unless you smash it up.

Heres a clip from the show "how its made" they did one on curling stones that I just happened to catch, it was a bigtime trip because thats the quarry I worked at !!!! Me and the Mrs were just watching TV then all of a sudden we were stood up saying "no fuking way!!!!!!!" LOL

Edited July 24, 2008 by britincali