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Quite a few questions were asked about the recent events and how they would affect fabricators of natural stone, including my shop. I’ll try to address the questions.

“Just curious, do you have a written policy that requires testing, and specifies what level of radon you will accept from a supplier?”

One thing , we aren’t measureing for Radon yet, just radiation.

First the easy answer, what level. 25 uR/hr over background radiation, about three to four times background levels. We prefer much lower, say 12 to 13 including background (6 to 7 uR/hr). Anything over 25 uR/hr we consider a hazard to our workers.

We are cutting up far, far, hotter material for the scientists. One of the few accepted reasons for exposure is to further the public good, providing some benefit for the risk. A prettier granite countertop does not meet that standard in our view. Our workers are fully informed, and we take extrodinary care in handling and cutting the hotter material.

Since we are a small company, no formal written policy has been set down, but on our website we mention the testing requirement, in red letters no less. In our granite countertop quotes, we have a clause requiring the slabs be tested for radiation prior to us accepting the granite job. Easily done with a small meter.

Radon is another issue, not possible unless we had possesion of the slab for a few days. And, we have yet to purchase the Radon meters, all of our focus has been on radiation. There is a relationship between radiation and Radon since the radiation is a measurable by product of the decay. So despite the lack of portable and fast Radon testing, simply rejecting the slab based upon high radiation levels will solve the problem. Or so we think…..

Some studies say that Radon production in a stone is about that of the radiation emission, measure the radiation and you have an approximate amount of Radon being produced. Other studies have found less Radon versus radiation, but I have yet to see a study that said a little radiation was present when a lot of Radon was produced. So we are pretty certain, and we state that there is some risk despite choosing low level radiation stone, and that the measurement of radiation is not an exact science at the hand held meter level.

One Radon company has developed a method of direct Radon measurements, IF you have a sizeable sample of the exact slab. The problem is the variation of the slabs, you never really know if that small chunk knocked off the corner of the slab is the same as the majority of the slab. Costs $175, takes a couple of weeks including shipping time.

We will start testing for Radon very soon, still researching the subject. Luckily, this testing effort has me connected to some of the top Radon scientists in the field. I’m getting some of the best samples to them found so far, so I can usually get a dumb question answered

“Because most of the information out there right now is funded by groups with a financial interest in the outcome, many people are skeptical of the results. “

Not so much a question as a statement that needs addressed. To start with, Silestone sells about as much granite as many companies, so they have potential liability as well as potential gain no matter which way this goes. From an inside view, with some access to info that few will see, I see this as an huge risk for Silestone and one taken only because they are unsure of their own potential liabilities. I really think they are attempting to jump start the conversation as well as the testing of all natural stone and quartz.

The only testing that Build Clean has an actual hand in is the 300 home testing effort, done by state certified Radon technicians using a protocol developed by the meter’s manufacturer and vetted by a PhD withexpertise in the field. The conclusions will be written by an expert as well.

Would it be better if someone else did this? Of course, but first the need to test has to be shown. Plenty of scientific studies on granite emitting Radon, but no one has done an in home study. Think of this as a way to prove the need, not as the last word on the subject. Who else will pay for this besides an interested party that stood to gain one way or the other? Since when did the funder of a study cause the study to lose status and credibility? This study is not designed for publication, it is just a fact finding mission.

And, there have been no results given so far, can’t be till the study is finished. If and when the study provides evidence of real world Radon emission from granite, then it will be time to do this again, at 10 times the cost so that it can be peer reviewed and published in a scientific journal.

“I’m suggesting to the developer/General Contractor that they develop a spec requiring that the slabs be tested and pass. As a fabricator, I think you would want to require the same thing of the slab yard. From what I understand, the testing is relatively inexpensive, and it would be a condition of your continued business. I’d require a letter from the slab yard with the results of the test on it, then it’s their liability.”

First thing is that there will never be zero risk with either Radon or radiation unless there is zero Radon and radiation. I can think of only a few granites that will provide zero radiation or Radon. No matter what you do or what you have people sign, Dr. Chiodo said the children and any visitors or future homeowners will have every right to sue since they didn’t or legally couldn’t sign your disclosure/release form. Dr. Chiodo is a top Toxic Tort lawyer as well as being a doctor. He knows both health risks and the law.

These are great ideas and I support it being done. Just understand that you can’t pass on your liability, only a judge or jury can do that. Stay in this business if you have good insurance that covers this risk specifically and always test for at least radiation before you buy a slab or accept one from a consumer for fabrication. Own your own meter, have it callibrated every year, check it against your check source often, and keep records of any testing results. CYA as you have never done before. Understand that despite your every effort, you will be a party to any lawsuit if something should slip through, or someone frivolously claims harm from your low level granite countertop.

Not sure what I think of this. It is concerning that lawyers are now actively looking for consumers that may have been exposed to radiation or Radon.

Exposure to Radon Causes Lung Cancer but is Granite Causing Cancer?

It seems that this is a man with his voice disguised, seems uninformed, pointing out a black spot as “pure Uranium”.

The mention of the two cats that died of cancer isn’t news, but the death of the maid was. No other confirmation is available on the death, but the cats and the brain tumor of one of the existing homeowners has been proven. We have been in contact with the husband of the brain tumor patient, sad business, hopefully she will have a full recovery.

The countertop in the video is Juparana Bordeaux, we have a full lab report on this countertop here.

The meter in the video is reading 2693 cpm, about one third of the hottest granite countertop that we have personally measured. It makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?

Perhaps this is what it will take to motivate the granite industry to rid their inventory of hot granite and to start to clean up the higher radiation level countertops sold to unsuspecting consumers.

Update, Sunday July 27th.
The American Bar Association is looking into this. Look at the comments, Mr. Blake is unhappy as well

Our local experts in radiation, the Department of Enviromental Quality, Radiation Section, helped us the other day verify our meters reading on some granite countertops sections.

I had emailed the dept back in April after we had found the first 100 uR/hr Gamma Bordeaux, asking if there were state limits on radiation of this type. Mike Broderick, the Radiation Dept Program Manager emailed back asking if it was a military luminous dial or an old radium watch. We didn’t say countertop in the first email, just in case it might generate a dismissive reply. Far from it.

Once we told him it was granite, he warned us to use respirator protection, warned of ingestion hazards, then said not to send the waste to a landfill, but offered a name of a hazardous waste disposal company.

I had caught up on projects in our shop, so I called Mike Broderick yesterday and set up a meeting to check our meter against their meters. I thought someone would meet me in the lobby with a hand held meter, do a quick reading and send me on my way.

Instead, the security guard calls up, then sends me and my two wheel dolly of granite slabs up the elevator to the fifth floor. I get off and there are three men eying my cart load of granite samples. I am thinking, great, I’ll have three of them laughing at me if this goes wrong.

So we go back to an open area, lay out the first slab remnant already gridded off into 3″ squares, with a graph of the readings I got with my meter. First one reads 90 uR/hr Gamma, about what I had recorded. The Rad guys are going “Hmmmm”. They started talking about possible isotopes, and I dug out the ARS lab report on the Houston TV countertop. The level of radioactive elements got their attention, they immediately asked for a copy of the report.

While one was copying the ARS report, I set up the second slab, the Niagara Gold section. They measured 190 to 200 uR/hr Gamma on a section where I had measured 240 uR/hr, about 25% less than my meter read, but well within tolerances for hand held meters, much less the difference between different meter types and cost ranges. That convinced them that we had a valid concern on these countertop materials.

There was a short discussion, average granite Radium levels, meter efficiencies, homeowner risks versus fabricator risks. Bill Commented that he was not panicked by 190 uR/hr, but he would not want it in his home. He quickly said that he couldn’t publicly comment till he got state approval, but that his personal opinion was that material this hot was not at all good.

I mentioned that the Argonne Lab was looking into funding sources for studying granite countertop radiation after looking over our data,. I called Christina, and had copies sent of the Argonne lab email and Setlow’s (EPA geologist, and the go to guy for radiation) email warning of the fabricator and possible homeowner risks of high level radiation granite.

Two of the men had to leave, a scheduled appointment to test radiation levels somewhere, so with backwards looks at the slabs, off they went. I got to tell you, measuring radiation is like fishing, you just don’t know what you will catch, so it can be fun.

Mike then took me into his office and called the EPA head in Dallas. First name basis relationship, which impressed me. He put George on the speaker phone, told him who I was and what we were calling about. George said he was aware of the issue, named Build Clean right off the bat, then mentioned that Setlow in Washington D.C. had forwarded our emails on the issues. George brought up some concerns on our meters accuracy, which Bill immediately handled down by saying our meters were accurate, within hand held meters usual tolerance ranges, that the readings were good.

George said that they were looking into the issue and would be in contact when they had more info.

George asked if there were any questions or anything else I needed, then I offered to send samples if they got into lab testing and mentioned the Texas slab coming in, 800 uR/hr Four Seasons.. George didn’t have the ARS report, so Mike described it, George asked for a copy to be sent.

With that phone call over, Mike started looking into who in the Oklahoma govt would be able to offer advice on respiratory protection for our workers. He called the Dept of Labor, Osha Consultation dept, respiratory section. This guy, Keith Hunt, again questioned the readings with Mike defending our results as proven, the guy was pretty much stumped , said he really didn’t know what to say to such an unusual level of radiation in dust. He mentioned taking samples, Mike offered to email the lab reports Keith asked for contact info, and said he would call some where for advice and get back with us.

Mike and I chatted a bit more on respirator types and the lack of state law preventing the sale of radioactive consumer products.

In all, I was really impressed with all five of these guys. They took their jobs seriously, my concerns seriously, and seemed generally intersested in finding out if there were any concerns to this issue.

We received an email recently from the federal Argonne Lab. A lady there is an expert in NORM, Normally Occurring Radioactive Material. She looked over our info and said some of her colleagues might be interested in researching the health risk aspects of granite countertops and Radiation. She said she has to procure the funding, but had several sources she used frequently. I am assuming the DOE or NASA, perhaps the NRC.

Here is the entire email.

Dear Ms. Weigel,

My apologies for being so slow in responding to you. I have been out of the office a great deal and have fallen behind on correspondence. Your questions and data about granite countertops as potential sources of radiation exposure took me by surprise initially, but makes a lot of sense. You have certainly amassed a lot of data.

Regarding your specific questions about regulations: A number of states regulate NORM through various types of legislation. A number of years ago, we developed a website for tracking NORM regulations: http://norm.iogcc.state.ok.us/index.cfm. It’s called the NORM Technology Connection website because it also provides access to information about companies providing NORM management and disposal services. From the “State Regulations and Guidelines” link, you can get information about how each state regulates NORM, along with links to agency websites and regulations. In Oklahoma , for example, there are no specific regulations for NORM and, therefore, NORM would be subject to the State’s general radiation control regulations. In many states, the general radiation control regulations are focused heavily of the medical industry (X-Ray machine operators, etc.) or on radiation waste site management (in states with big radiation site clean-ups). In such cases, there usually are surface contamination level limits that would apply to NORM as well as some general disposal requirements. It was this general lack of specificity relevant to NORM that caused many of the oil and gas producing states to write NORM regulations specific to the petroleum industry (Oklahoma drafted some at one time but never promulgated them). In addition, the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), a consortium of state radiation regulatory agencies, developed a template set of NORM regulations that could be adopted by each state. These regulations are referred to as Part N (http://www.crcpd.org/SSRCRs/N_04-04-print.pdf) and they have been adopted with some modifications by several states.

To complicate matters further, the CRCPD and others have adopted the terminology Technologically Enhanced NORM or TENORM to refer to NORM-bearing materials in which some human activity has increased concentrations [as in oil and gas operations]. They don’t intend to regulate the “…natural radioactivity of rocks…” Others argue that any material in which human activity causes increased potential for human exposure should be regulated. As such, it is unclear whether granite countertops would be regulated by different states’ regulations. You need to examine the definitions for “regulated material” to determine whether your operations and materials are subject to license requirements and other elements of the regulations.

If your operations are exclusively in Oklahoma , you might want to revisit the issue with your regulators (the DEQ Radiation Management Section – see link on the NORM Technology Connection); you might also want to get their decisions or directions to you in writing. If you work in areas outside of Oklahoma , you probably should become conversant on how each of those states regulation NORM.

From an occupational health risk perspective, you should look at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations on Ionizing Radiation: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10098. If this is an area that is too far beyond your realm of experience, you could consider hiring a consultant that specializes in health physics. The NORM Technology Connection database of service providers is one place to start to find such a consultant (from the home page, click on the link “Search for Services.” Then, select your search criteria (e.g., Radiation Safety Training, Health and Safety Plans).

I am not aware of any regulations in the U.S. specific to radioactivity in building materials – although there certainly could be some or individual states could consider their rules to cover building materials. The National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements (NCRP) addresses this issue in its Report 50, “Radiation Exposure of the U.S. Population from Consumer Products and Miscellaneous Sources,” (http://www.ncrponline.org/Publications/95press.html). I am not familiar with this area of research so cannot do more than point you in this direction.

My husband, a geologist, found the following article on the Internet that might interest you if you have not already seen it: http://wjllope.rice.edu/SaxumSubluceo/LLOPE_StoneRadRn.pdf.

In general terms, the two U.S. agencies that should be interested in potential health risks associated with occupational or consumer radiation exposure from granite countertops include the EPA and OSHA. Because NORM falls to state-level regulation, however, it is possible the EPA will defer entirely to those agencies. Nonetheless, I have a contact at the EPA who might have some insights into the agency’s perspective on this issue and will try to call him in the next few days. If I learn anything useful, I will share it with you. It also seems the CRCPD should take an interest in this issue given its mission is to inform state-level regulatory development. I don’t have a contact there but might be able to track one down.

Regarding how Argonne National Laboratory might be able to support research into this issue, I am certain a number of our staff would be interested, particularly with respect to potential health risk issues. Unfortunately, we would need to identify a specific funding source for such research as we currently do not have funds to work in this area. I will pursue funding opportunities through a number of contacts – if we could get funding, we would be quite interested.

Again, my apologies for being slow in responding. That doesn’t reflect a lack of interest on my part. I hope some of the information above is of use to you – please let me know if you have questions. I will continue to look into this issue as time allows.

Best regards,

Karen

Karen P. Smith

Argonne National Laboratory

200 Union Blvd., Ste. 530

Lakewood, CO 80228

Christina found this tussle between an Uranium mine and a stone quarry over an overlapping mining lease. Seems both want the stone for different reasons.

Fight over granite deposit

Nuclear fuel or countertops? Who would think such a question would be asked?

It has been an amazing week, far too much info has flowed in to handle it in one post. I’ll break it up so that some of it gets posted tonight.

First off, on other forums I have mentioned that one of the orginal cases was partially proven true from backup sources, but the major parts remained unusable from lack of verification. No more.

Here is what transpired. A builder built a new home in upstate New York He had a kitchen granite countertop, Shivakasi installed from Home Depot in Glen Falls, which hired a firm in Long Island New York make it and install it. This firm, Innovative Stone, is a national firm that handles a lot of the Home Depot granite countertop work .

After the granite was installed, the builder/Contractor, John, worked in the home for two months finishing up, then lived in the home for two years before selling the home to a doctor who used it as a summer home. Somehow there was cause for a Radon test, and the home failed. During the initial survey, Stan Liebert, the Radon expert, started finding higher radiation as he approached the kitchen. From a normal background of sixty cpm, the meter started reading 300 cpm as he neared the kitchen. When he laid the meter on the Shivakasi Granite, it skyrocketed to 2,000 cpm.

Once Home Depot was told of the radiation rate, three hours passed till it was laying in the yard, with the consumer getting agreement for a new countertop for no charge. John, the contractor, then said “What about me?” He was told to visit his local doctor and get a chest X ray. Unfortunetly, John’s X ray showed lung cancer. A non smoker, John must have had a good case because Home Depot settled for an undisclosed amount and had John sign a non disclosure agreement as part of his settlement. The homeowner and Radon expert, didn’t sign anything, which is why this has come to light.

We looked up Innovative Stone, which seems to be Stone Mark granite. Shivakasi isn’t shown in their offerings but one called Soleil looks to be the same. We were told that this doctors home is one of several found with high levels of Radon and radiation. Mr. Liebert took the info to Dr. Kitto of the New York State Health Dept, devisied a plan to help the granite company rid their slab yard of problem slabs, then they had a meeting with the local Innovative Stone fabrication shop that actually produced and installed the granite. Expecting at least some gratitude for their offer of help, instead they got a chilly meeting ending with a promise to advise their company president of the issues and further contact.

A few weeks passed, no contact. So Stan was in the area of the main headquarters of Innovative stone, and dropped in to introduce himself. Instead, he was told that the President of Innovative Stone refused to meet with him, despite sitting in her office a few feet away.

Other shops welcomed Stan and Dr. Kitto. One went so far to outfitt their workers with half face dust repirators, complete with charcoal filters. I have to wear one of those things when spraying in our spray booth, really uncomfortable. The granite shop must have taken the advice seriously in order to enforce the rules. In many shops, you will see a guy or two with a hole poked in their simple dust mask for smoking a cigarettee, if they are even wearing a dust mask.

A section of the Shivakasi granite countertop was tested by Stan Liebert. It produced 4,000 pCi/Sf in their tests, enough to raise the doctors home to 90 pCi/L. The EPA says anything over 2 pCi/L is a concern, 4 pCi/L the “action” level, and 20 pCi/L used to be the max allowed before the govt did something unpleasant. An Accustar Radon meter was used in the testing, a $4,000 meter.

Stan said he first learned of the granite/Radon issue when a granite floor was found to cause elevated Radon levels in a home. It seemed the cold air return was mounted near the granite tile floor, causing the Radon produced to be spread to all parts of the home.

The health of the workers in Innovative Stone’s fabrication shops is unknown. The Radon and radiaition from a hot granite top is bad enough for a homeowner, but a fabricator is exposed to far, far more radiation from the dust being inhaled or ingested. An expert in enviromental health issues told me that something as simple as touching your lips will transfer enough dust to be an issue. Much less what ultra fine dust is scattered throughout the shop and even the offices. We are a wet shop, all cutting and polishing are done with water flooding the cut, but some dust is generated regardless. It get all the way into the office, about 100 yards away, and when cleaning up after the job, there is little to do but sweep it up after the mud dries.

Our shop mandates dust masks, the best we could find, NIOSH approved. But we have learned that even more protection would be best and are being advised by the state OSHA consultation office on the proper mask. So far, they are still researching the issue cause no one has brought up that grantie dust is not only radioactive, it has a posionous heavy metal content as well.

Another thing, Stan agrees that the first foot of a granite countertop will have a much higher level of Radon. He also mentioned that using the higher readings from the Geiger counters was important because it included the Radon daughter products. So the more we know, the less certain we are of exactly what will wind up being a safe level. For now, we are sticking with 20 to 25 uR/Hr Gamma maximum, which is easily attainable with a little care and concern. We would rather get you into a 10 or 13 uR/hr stone if possible.

If you want to see a pod cast of Stan talking about part of this story, here it is.

Or just go to BuildClean.org and look in the bottom right hand corner of the home page

If you search online for information on granite and Radiation, you will run into a piece posted by the NSRA, National Stone Restoration Alliance, in hundreds of places. The author, one Jo Huligar, challenged me to a debate on the issues, actually went to a lot of trouble to get me to register at his forum. As always, they couldn’t defend their positions, but some of their members were open minded.

Here is what they were spreading as facts, with some of my comments in bold.

Quote:
“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.
Of course, Build Clean has dozens of studies quoted on their website and has a host of scientists researching the issues

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. Actually, one of the sponsors sells as much natural stone, their Sensa line, as any other granite company in the United States. And, if I were contributing a lot of money to a testing effort, I’d want a seat on the board as well to see that my money was well spent.
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. Sure, no doubt there is a marketing angle to this, few companies will spend a millon dollars unless it benefits their bottom line. As long as the science is valid, it matters little who organizes the effort. Any studies resulting from this will be published after peer review, making them as objective as you can get.

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. Actually, there can be thousands per part per million, while 80 parts per million is enough for commercial nuclear fuel processing. When quarried if a large cluster of biotite is exposed the result initially would be a radon reading. Wrong, the Uranium is mixed into the stone itself in various quanities in various spots. 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. Wrong, since the Radon comes from the decay of the Uranium itself as it passes through the decay chain, it is going to be present for millions of years.
We do endorse Radon testing but to allude that natural stone is a main contributor seems ludicrous. A straw man argument, no one has ever said that Radon from granite was the main contributor. There are cases of that happening, but for the most part, granite just contributes Radon to the normal occuring Radon, raises the level.
Here are some facts about Radon:

WHERE DOES RADON COME FROM?

“Radon comes from the natural radioactive decay of radium and uranium found in the soil beneath the house. The amount of radon in the soil depends on complex soil chemistry, which varies from one house to the next. Radon levels in the soil range from a few hundred to several thousands of pCi/L. The amount of radon that escapes from the soil to enter the house depends on the weather, soil porosity, soil moisture, and the suction within the house”.

HOW DOES RADON GET INTO THE HOUSE?

“Houses act like large chimneys. As the air in the house warms, it rises to leak out the attic openings and around the upper floor windows. This creates a small suction at the lowest level of the house, pulling the radon out of the soil and into the house. (Just as natural stone filters radon emission as mentioned before.) You can test this on a cold day by opening a top floor window an inch. You will notice warm air from the house rushing out that opening; yet, if you open a basement window an inch, you will feel the cold outside air rushing in. This suction is what pulls the radon out of the soil and into the house. You might think caulking the cracks and the openings in the basement floor will stop the radon from entering the house. However, scientific studies show, it only takes enough unsealed cracks or pin holes in the caulking to equal a hole 1/2″ in diameter to let all the radon in. It is unlikely that caulking the accessible cracks and joints will permanently seal the openings radon needs to enter the house. The radon levels will still likely remain unchanged.
Fortunately, there are other extremely effective means of keeping radon out of your home. Throughout the country, several million people have already tested for radon. Some houses tested as high as 2,000-3,000 pCi/L; yet, there hasn’t been one house that could not mitigate to an acceptable level. The difference in reference to natural stone is that one the stone slab is removed from the source and exposed to the atmosphere the radon is vented in the same way ventilation of a house mitigates the radon emissions in the soil. Sure it is vented, right into your home. This info on soil based Radon is just confusing the issues, we can ventilate the slab or crawl space for soil based Radon, but what can we do once the source is installed, at great cost, inside the home?

Levels of radiation from granite products, which technically are measurable, are in fact, small fractional values of established thresholds for environmental safety. No, that is an outright lie. The current theory of radiation protection is ALARA, As Low As Reasonably Achievable, in other words, there is no threshold below which radiation is considered harmless. There are standards set that compare the cost of limiting the amount of radiation you are exposed to, but regardless of how low, current science says that there is a small risk attached to that exposure.The truth of the matter is that granite is a safe product. It’s been used for thousands of years and the relationship between granite and radon has been studied for years and years. How safe is granite? There have been mathematical models developed that show that one could live in an all-granite home or building, including sleeping on granite, for an entire year and still be within very safe levels of exposure. Ah, Langmuir is quoted again. This guy was a geologist, not a radiation expert, hired by the MIA to write an article for them. No publication, no explanation of how he figured the dose/risk in his examples, and the guy was retired when he wrote it.
Calculations show that, if an average countertop, traps an average uranium concentration of four ppm (parts per million), the concentration of radon that is given off by the countertop into the household air would be 270,000 times less than the level of radon in the outside air. Wrong, even the MIA’s latest article blows this out of the water. Their highest reading in the study, Crema Bordeaux, contributed .28 pCi/L using their suspect calculations. Out side air is usually .4 pCi/L, or 30% higher than the Crema Bordeaux. And as we will show later in this article, even the latest MIA test was flawed, the Crema Bordeaux emission should have been triple or quadruple what they claimed. So Langmuir was off by a factor of 900 times!.
The maximum contact level that you would receive over one year if you were to sit on a countertop all of the time would be about one quarter of the annual radiation from all sources. Sure, some granites, the low level ones, would emitt small amounts like this. Some much larger amounts. Sure your normal average radiation exposure is 360 mR/yr, but one quarter of that would be 90 mR/yr. The experts, including govt experts, say that 100 mR/yr is the maximum you should be exposed to over your regular 360 mR/yr. So even Langmuir admits that you are only 10% away with an average granite top.

But, I found a Crema Bordeaux this weekend that measured 8.5 mR./hr using our LENi Geiger counter. At that rate, 12 hours of using the granite countertop puts you at the 100 mR limit for additional radiaton. A years worth of radiation, at 2 hours per day, would be 6,205 mR for the year, 62 times the allowed additional radiation.

If you were just a few inches away from the granite (such as when doing the dishes), the dose would be too low to measure. Wrong, as a few minutes online searching will prove. Again either complete ignorance or a complete lie. The Alpha radiation won’t reach more than two inches, but the Beta can travel from a few feet to 18 feet depending upon energy levels. It will only penetrate one centimeter into flesh (3/4″). Still that is enough according to Dr Chiodo to cause sterility, even birth defects if you stand close to a sink or cooktop rail while you use the kitchen.

Gamma radiation is entirely different. It goes right through you. When I trained one of our vendors to use the meters to test their granite slabs, I had each one lean against an A frame of granite after measureing that exact spot, then hold the meter up to their chest where they could see it. All of them would bolt when they saw that the Gamma was only a little less than on contact, the Gamma blasted right through their body. Gamma radiation can travel from tens of feet to hundreds of feet in the air, but some Gamma we receive came from distant galaxies.

To Quote Donald Langmuir, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, & President, Hydrochem Systems Corp.
”To show how laughable are the concerns of radon emitted from natural stone, the typical granite countertop in our example will release 7.4 x 10 -7 pCi/L of air. This corresponds to 2.7 x 10 -8 atom decays per second (dps). This represents 0.85 decays per year. In other words, less than one atom of radon is produced by the countertop in one year.
Oh, this one is rich, complety off the wall stupid. Here are some quotes that will allow us to compare what Langmuir said to what others say.

Now all that math proves one thing, that Langmuir’s calculation of .85 decays per year is way, way off. How much? Well using the above example of 2.4 ppm Uranium and a 2,000 square foot house, we got 83,827 decays per second. So we need to figure seconds in a year and then multiply. 31,536,000 seconds in a year x 83,827 dps = 2,640,550,000,000 decays per year from 2.4 ppm granite. He only missed it by 3 trillion times….. Is there any wonder the MIA is famous for using junk science in their marketing efforts?

This is hardly worth getting excited about. I would suggest that a good way to reduce our exposure to the radon present in outdoor air would be to build an air-tight house out of granite countertops! There are certain properties of rocks that can increase their radon emanation efficiency, or in other words increase the release of radon from a given weight of rock. These are rock properties that maximize the exposure of internal or external rock surfaces to water or air, allowing any radon gas to escape. The author of ‘Granite and Radon’ argues that such properties, which include rock porosity, fissuring and mylonitization, will increase radon releases. What he said in the previous three sentences is if the granite has movement,veining, or grain, the Radon release will increase, but mesh back and resining will allow these weakened granites to market anyway. He addressed this in his last sentence, but he forgot about the back and worked edges of the stone not being resined.

This is probably true, however, a granite with such properties would be too brittle to make into a countertop, and too open to take a polish, and so would not be marketable as a countertop – unless the rock pores were first filled with a chemical sealant. Such sealing would also eliminate any possible radon release problems.” Well, the bottom isn’t sealed and according to the lates news in Radon research, the bottom gives off a lot more Radon than the top polished surface. Even the MIA says in their technical pages that there is no way to completely seal a natural stone surface, in fact, they say to attempt to do so is to invite spalling and damage of the surface. Resining is very common these days, most granites are resined, so that alone invalidates Langmuir’s statements.

In a more recent study that was conducted by L. L. Chyi, a Ph.D. and professor of Geochemistry and Environmental Geology at The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. Dr. Chyi studied 13 of the most popular granites used throughout the United States as determined by an industry-wide survey. Due to their popularity these 13 granites, are believed to represent up to 85% of the granite countertop market in recent years. The granite types are as follows:

1. New Venetian Gold, Brazil; medium grained, yellow-beige gneiss with many dark red garnets
2. Uba Tuba, Brazil; A medium- to coarse grained, olive-green granite
3. Santa Cecilia, Brazil; A coarse-grained, yellow-grey gneiss with up to pie-sized, red garnets
4. Tropic Brown, Saudi Arabia; medium-grained, brown granite
5. Absolute Black, India; black basalt
6. Tan Brown, India; A black-brown igneous rock with big, shapeless, brown-red feldspar crystals
7. Giallo Ornamental, Brazil; coarse-grained, brown-yellow granulite with some brown-red garnets
8. Crema Bordeaux, Brazil; Juparana Crema Bordeaux (Brunello). A coarse- to very coarse-grained, pink to red granite with areas of quartz, alkali feldspar and quite a lot of ore
9. Baltic Brown, Finland; brown-black granite
10. Giallo Veneziano, Brazil; medium- to coarse-grained, ochre-yellow to golden-brown, also light pink, gneiss
11. Dakota Mahogany, USA; medium- to coarse-grained, brown-red granite
12. China Black, China, a fine-grained plutonic rock
13. Yellow Star, China, a medium-grained yellow to pink granite

The testing methodology was designed to measure the amount of radon which each granite type would add to the interior of a 2,000 square foot, normally ventilated home with 8 ft ceilings. The results show that Crema Bordeaux (the most active in terms of radon emissions) would contribute a concentration component of less than 0.28 pCi/L, or less than 7% of the EPA’s recommended actionable level of 4.0 pCi/L. This radon amount is well below a level which might cause health concerns. That is a lie, .28 pCi/L will have an excess cancer rate of 4.75 people per 10,000 people exposed. Crema Bordeaux is one of the lowest level Bordeauxs, but the average Crema Bordeaux still gives off around .5 mR/hr, four to five times less than Juparana Bordeaux. But we have found Crema Bordeaux up to 5100 cpm or 8.51.4 mR/hr so using their own example, this .28 could become1.12 pCi/L if a hotter than average slab gets into a home.
Tropic Brown and Baltic Brown, second and third in radon emanation based upon Dr. Chyi’s testing, amounted to only 1% of this action level. The other granites tested added almost immeasurable amounts of radon to the house. Radon atoms in pore spaces and fractures are of minimal concern in the case of granite countertops. No, as they decay it raises the general radiation levels of the granite countertop, you are almost better off letting it into the home.

Dr. Chyi’s test results show that the granites that are currently found in the United States’ market place are insignificant contributors to radon levels in the home. “Based on the testing results and EPA standards, we can conclude that the most popular granites used as countertop surfaces pose no health threat to homeowners. If proper resealing is applied once a year or at other frequencies determined by the industry, the radon emanation can be further reduced”. But, many in the granite industry claim that most granites don’t need sealing and the back is never sealed in any way. Nor are Beta or Gamma radiation stopped by sealing.

Now, there are other gaping holes in Chyi’s estimates. One flaw was the amount of granite included in the calculation. They tested small samples, then extrapolated the results into 13 linear feet of granite countertop or 26 square feet. As a fabricator of all types of countertops, including granite, I can tell you that 13 linear feet of tops is small, very small, for a 2,000 foot home. Sixty five to seventy five square feet is more likely to be found in a home of that size. Increasing the size of the top increases the amount of Radon in their calculation, figure 2.5 times higher at least. That would put you at .675 pCi/L which will have a cancer rate of 1.175 per thousand people exposed. Even the .27 pCi/L will have an excess cancer rate of 4.75 people per 10,000 people exposed. Were we talking about toys, food, paint, or water bottles, there would not be a debate, the product would be yanked off the market.

Lastly, the report made mention of six air changes per hour, possible in some months of the year in the better climates of our country, but try that in Houston in the summer, Milwaukee in the winter, or Oklahoma for 10 months of the year and you will have some very high utility bills. Modern air tight homes have difficulty getting a fireplace to work properly, the air changes are minimal at best. This red herring of six air changes per hour was thrown in after the conclusions, but is an excellent example of non scientific thought. I would bet money that it wasn’t Chyi that wrote the paragraph. Even Huligar admits that in his NY home, the windows are rarely open, just the door opening and closing which allows very little air exchange.

Dr Chyi went on to quote a twenty year old study done by Dr. Steck, where a number of American mined granite products were tested for Radon emission, all of which tested at low levels. While Dr. Steck’s results were perfectly good science and 100% accurate for the samples he studied, those results have absolutely no bearing on the sometimes highly radioactive granite materials currently being imported into the US.

Dr. Steck had saved a few of the samples, one of which served all this time as a trivet for his kitchen countertop! He retested the sample with his newer methods and equipment, and got simular results to the original study. However, the samples that we provided him in June tested from 50 to 100 times higher than the original samples.

Dr. Chyi went on to say:

“There is little sample-to-sample variation in the radon family radionuclide concentrations; the radon flux is somewhat larger for the counter-top squares than for the smaller samples. This indicates that the effective diffusion length is only on the order of the thickness of the counter-top samples, i.e. several centimeters. Thus, material thicker than 5 cm (2″) most likely will not emit more than the counter-top samples.” Again, it looks like Chyi is speaking about tile samples and he is speaking only of the Radon. The Gamma radiation will be affected by the mass of thicker materials, I’ve seen it myself in our testing. Another point is that unlike these uniform samples, granite will be higher or lower on every square inch. ”

Editors note: The following paragraph is from Dr. Chyi’s MIA study. Dr. Steck saw it and was very concerned that it might be construed as being his words, so we edited the above paragraphs and added this note to make sure that no one missunderstands. We even removed the Dr. Steck quote that Dr. Chyi used in his study to remove any confusion on who said what. I believe it is safe to say that despite Dr. Steck being quoted, he might not agree with Dr. Chyi’s conclusions on the motivations of those interested in studying these issues and having standards implemented on the industry

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. ”

This may well be a marketing effort, but it is backed by real scientific studies and more are on the way. The quartz industry will bury the stone industry if testing existing material inventory is not done, if the existing countertops are not tested and removed if found dangerous, and if the industry doesn’t start testing at the quarry, the distributor and at the fabrication shop.

Now, let’s look at what was left out of Huligar’s article. Looking at the MIA study will reveal other flaws. The first paragraph is just a puff piece, not a single supported statement in it.
To start off, the stones they tested supposedly represented 95% of granite types most sold. Okay, let’s say I buy that. What about the other 5%? Remember I say that from 3 to 15% are of concern. And I don’t check a lot of Uba Tuba, Santa Cecilia, or really any of the stones in their report. So they are basically testing safe stones, about what I would expect from the MIA.
Note that they tested mostly 2 cm instead of 3 cm, but they did include one 3 cm, Dakota Mahogany. This is a big no no in science. Everything has to be exactly the same or the results can not be trusted. This point alone would have meant the study would have to be redone if it were being considered for publication.

And finally, look at the disclaimer at the end. It basically says not to rely upon the study, in contrast to a real scientific study that strives to be taken as gospel.

PM 1703 Scintillator picture

For measuring Gamma when surveying granite countertop slabs or existing countertops, we use a PM 1703 Scintillator. When a Gamma ray hits the crystal inside the meter, it causes a flash of light, which is measured by a photodiode, then counted by the electronics. We will cover basic operation of the meter in this article.

In the picture, there are two grey buttons, top and botom. The top button is the mode button. If the meter is reading “off” when you get it, just hold the top button down for a few seconds and it will start up. If you have recieved a brand new meter, just insert the battery. Look for the large honking screw on the side of the case.

Once it comes on, the unit will test itself, then it will calibrate itself to background radiation. Takes a minute for both to happen. If the meter doesn’t pass the test, it won’t start the callibration process.

At this point, you are ready to go to work. Just hold the meter in contact with what you want to test. If you move the meter slowly, you can scan an item. Move too fast, and it won’t read accurately. One foot of travel per three or four seconds will do for a rough survey.

The lower button turns on a light for the screen, allows you to turn the unit on and off, and allows the unit to communicate with a computer to download info or upload info.

The beeper can be turned off, so can the vibrate alert. I recomend turning off the beeper if you are surveying in a slab yard or stone showroom, annoying as hell, and you will scare people.

To turn the beeper and vibrate on and off, hold down the top button, the mode button, for a few seconds, maybe six seconds. At first it will say “cal” for calibration, keep the buttom pressed down. After five or six seconds, it will display a “n 5.5″ or something close. That is the alarm level, set at 5.5 ratio (why the meter re callibrates each time you turn it on). punching the lower button will cause the “n5.5″ to flash on and off.

When it does that, punching the bottom or top button will make the “5.5″ go up or down. play with it, set it where you wish, then do nothing. The meter will reset itself with the new level of alarm.

It is recomended to leave it at 5.5, set it on one and the meter will beep a lot. Set it at 9.9, and it will read fine, but the alarm won’t warn you when the radiation level shoots up high.

Now do that again, but this time when the “n5.5″ is displayed, punch the top button. Now the meter shoud read “1-on”. Punching the lower button toggles the on and off function. #1 is the beeper, #2 is the vibrator.

If you do nothing after that, the meter will reset.

After setting the “1″ to on or off, punch the top button and it should display “2-on”. Same procedure if you want to turn that function on or off. Pretty simple.

The meter reads in micro Roentgens per hour. You now have the data to make a decision, what normal background radiation is, and how hot the granite is.

Now we enter unknown territory. Two camps, but the overwhelming consensus is that ALARA, As Low As Readily Attainable, is the standard. Sure there is a camp that believes in Hormesis, a fringe theory that says radiation is good for you….. We will stick to facts here.

To turn the meter off, hold down the lower button (the light button) for a second, then while still holding the light button down, depress and hold the top button for a few seconds till “off” appears on the screen.

Please don’t drop the meter. It has a crystal inside that can be broken.

This meter retails for over $1.200, but they can be found one place cheaper, for $383.28 with shipping. The SSA has arranged a group rate if we buy in multiple units, you would save shipping, and the SSA gets a small percentage. Any money raised will be earmarked for technical equipment for testing. Units will be shipped in lots to us, the meters will be tested, then reshipped to the owner. You are saving $13.00, and someone knowlegable and neutral has made sure it is working fine. We will pay the shipping going out.