What the Experts say about Radiation in Granite Countertops
We ran across Dr. Chiodo last week on a Green Building site. He had this to say on that site:
“Radon infiltration, despite over three decades of educational exposure, is still is very much an issue. It is so much more latent. You see it in a lot of granite, igneous type of rock. Those often contain a lot of Radium, the radioactive parent of radon gas. You don’t just see it in basements. A lot of people have granite countertops and that can contain radium,” warns Chiodo.”
Of course I was intrigued, so I contacted Dr. Chiodo via email and got a phone call from him the next day. He was very concerned about the high radiation levels we are finding in granite countertop slabs, enough so that Dr. Chiodo warned us to contact a local environmental lawyer to write a disclosure/release form for customers to sign prior to purchase.
Dr. Chiodo also warned that any family members or children of the customers would not bound by the disclosure/release form. Since people usually stand in close contact to the granite edge while using a granite countertop, Dr. Chiodo warned of the potential for sterility lawsuits, even potential birth defect lawsuits.
Dr. Chiodo is uniquely qualified to offer an opinion on granite countertop radiation. He is a physician, attorney, industrial hygienist, and biomedical engineer with board certification in internal medicine, occupational and environmental medicine, public health and general preventive medicine, and industrial hygiene.
He received his Master of Public Health from Harvard University. He is the former Medical Director of the Detroit Health Department. He is an assistant professor of internal medicine at Wayne State University. He is currently the President-Elect of the Michigan Industrial Hygiene Society and Vice-Chairman of the Environmental Litigation and Administrative Practice Committee of the State Bar of Michigan. He has clinical privileges at the Henry Ford Health System and serves as the attorney for the Medical Staff of Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals-Warren Campus. He is licensed to practice medicine and law in Michigan and Illinois.
Dr. Chiodo also authored two books on Toxic Tort law.
Dr. Chiodo said that a storm of claims is potentially possible. I understand that in some sections of the country, claims don’t have to be proven beyond doubt. It will be up to granite fabricators to prove that their product didn’t cause the birth defect or sterility.
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