Granite Countertops Are Not Health Threat

Granite countertops can for sure enhance the look of your house but if they threaten your health you would be sure to not have them in your house. True, none of us want to take a chance with our health. Hence, however, beautiful a granite top might be, it would not be a welcome item in our houses if it is a health hazard. In recent years, you must have heard several allegations that the granite radiates radon that can cause cancer. But, recent researches have shown that there is no such health threat at all. So, now you have reasons enough to radiate some smiles from your face.

In recent times, allegations were made that granite radiate a hazardous amount of radon. Now, medical science believes this gas to be one of the major reasons for the lung cancer. However, the threat increases because of the fact that the radioactive gas can not be smelt, seen or tasted. So, it is very difficult to identify the amount of radon radiated by the granite. But, the threat was a dangerous one. According to reports by the Environmental Protection Agency, this gas causes death to twenty thousand people every year. This naturally made the people skeptical about the use of granite.

However, the intensity of the threat of radon is dependent on the amount of the gas present in the air. This measurement unit of radon in the air is pCi/L or picoCuries per liter of air. The studies conducted by the EPA shows that the at least 4 pCi/L is required for the radon to be a serious threat to the health. Anything less than that level is certainly ignorable. In fact, the opinions of the experts differ regarding the amount of risk that this amount of radon poses. The reports by the New York Times claim that the 4 pCi/L of radon is as dangerous as smoking half a pack of cigarette every day.

However, coming back to granite, few experts have earlier pointed out that the granites emit a serious amount of radon. Recent scientific researches however have nullified the concept. New York Times too, reiterated the same concept. They have sited the researches done by the Marble Institute of America that clearly established that the allegations are ‘ludicrous’. Though granite does posses a certain amount of radioactive materials like uranium, potassium and thorium; they are not present in such an amount so as to pose any practical threat to the users.

The health experts have agreed to the point that the granite countertops emit radon but they claim that the radiation level is extremely low, reaching nowhere near the threat level. They say that the radiations from space and the core of the earth are far greater a threat than this, let on the extremely dangerous radiations from the artificial sources like the luminous watches, X-rays and smoke detectors.

The minimum radon that the granite countertops emit can be negated with a kitchen that has enough supply of fresh water. This will reduce the amount of radon in the kitchen. However, the EPA claims that the amount of radon radiation varies according to different colors. They are offering different easy to use kits to test the radiation of the granite.