Are your Granite Countertops Safe?

There has been a concern and a discussion recently about radiation being emitted from granite countertops. Should you be concerned?

Channel 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada went with state inspectors and tested for radon in granite countertops. You can read their article at http://ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9276581  .

There was a quote in their article that appears to be inaccurate:

"The concern now is, is granite safe," asked Sid Mackay from Creative Countertops. Sid Mackay is a member of the Marble Institute of America, a group representing the granite industry. "As an industry, we know there is radon in granite. There is radon in the soil, in the concrete, you are exposed daily to radon from the sun, the air, sometimes from water if you get it from a well," explained MacKay. We also get it from microwave ovens, and in the Barrys' house the highest reading we got came off her cell phone.”

His errors consist of radon from the sun. There is radiation from the sun but it is not radon. Read my article at
http://colorado-radon-removal.com/What-is-Radon.html  . Possibly he was misquoted.

They go on to say microwave ovens produce radon.  This isn’t true unless they have uranium 238 or one of its decay products imbedded in the oven.

I am not a physicist so I am not claiming to be an expert; however, I have an opinion. If granite is emitting radiation it will have Uranium 238 or one of its decay products physically in the granite. If any of those decay products are present the granite will be emitting one or more of the radioactive isotopes Alpha, Beta or Gamma. It is very difficult to get an accurate radon measurement from a piece of granite which would measure the Alpha and Beta particles. If uranium 238 was imbedded in the granite it would also be emitting Gamma rays which would have to be measured with a Geiger counter.

An excess exposure to Gamma rays would be more likely to be dangerous than the Alpha or Beta particles emitting from the granite.

We are members of The American Association of Radon Scientists and Technicians. The AARST has a position statement about granite counter tops. You can download the position statement.

Testing for Gamma Rays is beyond the scope of what we do as radon measurement providers. You probably will need to call upon an environmental scientist with more sophisticated equipment.

For more articlesabout radon go to:
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