Granite Counter Tops Pose Health Risks

Written by Thomas Corriher Wednesday, 10 November 2010 16:53

Granite counter tops are generally seen as a demonstration of high finances by the wealthy.  They frequently are dangerous because they are radioactive, and they emit radon gas.  This phenomenon is something that even the mainstream press has begun reporting.  The E.P.A. and other regulatory agencies have been receiving floods of phone calls from home owners and inspectors about unusually high levels of radiation from granite counter-tops.  As usual, people are urged to ignore the high readings as unimportant, because taking an official stance against radiation in kitchens would also imply that radiation used in modern medicine is also dangerous.  There is a great deal of money to be lost in several industries, in other words.

Some mainstream news sites parrot that the granite counter tops are probably safe, but the variations in radiation levels are extreme.  All granite counter-tops emit a small amount of radiation, but some are far higher than EPA 'recommended amounts'.  Despite the numbers being sometimes higher than EPA-allowable standards, the E.P.A. nevertheless maintains that granite counter-tops should not be a cause for concern.  You see, radiation from counter tops is safe.  It's the good kind of radiation, and it might even cure cancer.  Granite radiation is safe in much the same way that fluoride mystically becomes safe when mixed in drinking water or toothpastes.  It's F.D.A. science, once again.

Yet the EPA recommends that every house get checked for radon levels to, of course, detect how much healthy radiation homes are blessed with.  ABC News exposed that the Environmental Protection Agency does not even have a procedure for checking counter tops, which might explain some of their schizophrenia.  If they do not have any procedure, and presumably have not done any testing of their own, then we must wonder how they can possibly conclude that counter tops are safe.  Since the time of Madam Curie, we have clearly known what radiation exposure does to people.

The Marble Institute of America unsurprisingly claims that granite is completely safe, and distractedly focuses on other (much more negligible) sources of radiation in homes, such as that which "comes from soil or rock beneath the building".  They do admit that some of the newer varieties, particularly exotic kinds, have not been seen before, and are emitting the highest levels of radon gas and radiation.  Again, safety was declared before any investigation.

Famous bio-chemist, Linus Pauling, was one of the primary supporters of ending nuclear testing.  He maintained that radiation damage is accumulative.  Small amounts of radiation over an extended period is just as damaging as being exposed to all of it on the same day.  The human body never truly heals from it, or develops any natural defenses, and we're talking mutagenic damage at the DNA level.  He later won (one of his) Nobel Prizes for his work in convincing governments of the dangers of radiation exposure.  Even tiny amounts of radiation should be avoided whenever possible, and you may not even want to know what microwave ovens, Pepto-Bismol, and commercial mayonnaise do.

We recommend that those with granite counter tops test the radiation and radon levels in their kitchens, to ensure that they are not at increased risks of cancer, birth defects, or a plethora of other health effects that are routinely caused by radiation.