Granite Countertops Toxic?

[Barefootsies]

I was pricing out new counter tops, and was thinking of doing prefab granite for kitchen. Then I come across this little gem.

I had never heard this before, but I guess it's been out for around a year now.

What?s Lurking in Your Countertop?


SHORTLY before Lynn Sugarman of Teaneck, N.J., bought her summer home in Lake George, N.Y., two years ago, a routine inspection revealed it had elevated levels of radon, a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. So she called a radon measurement and mitigation technician to find the source.

?He went from room to room,? said Dr. Sugarman, a pediatrician. But he stopped in his tracks in the kitchen, which had richly grained cream, brown and burgundy granite countertops. His Geiger counter indicated that the granite was emitting radiation at levels 10 times higher than those he had measured elsewhere in the house.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/ga...prod=permalink

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/granite.asp

[jpwhits]

You will get aids from your kitchen surfaces.

[Tom_PM]

Well, they do call it a "one in a million" type of deal. Why not arrange to bring a counter to the raw slab store and freak people out while you shop? Sounds fun.

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by PR_Tom

Well, they do call it a "one in a million" type of deal. Why not arrange to bring a counter to the raw slab store and freak people out while you shop? Sounds fun.

[riddler]

its a rock, it has minerals in it that decay, you are more likely to have health problems from drinking water...


good old granite counter tops news story, always pops up a few times a year when news is slow.

[Tanker]

watch that snopes link it tried to install all kinds of stuff

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by riddler

its a rock, it has minerals in it that decay, you are more likely to have health problems from drinking water...

Agreed.

I had never heard it before, but you hear about this 'radon' from time to time. Interesting to hear about the source(s) of it could be something like this.

[Karen Kougar]

As if there was even consensus that this would be harmful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis

A low dose of ionising radiation seems to stimulate DNA repair and the immune system, so providing a measure of protection against cancer. The benefit of low doses of radiation in treating cancer have been known for some time and are confirmed by a mass of evidence, particularly from Japan where it has been studied in detail as a result of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many other examples of the hormesis effect are well known. A bit of sunshine does you good; too much may cause skin cancer. Small doses of aspirin have many beneficial effects; too much will kill you. It also appears to apply to arsenic, cadmium, dioxins and residues of synthetic pesticides, but that is another story.

Epidemiological evidence confirms the hormesis effect of radiation. The prediction that there would be terrible after-effects from the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the survivors and their children was proved wrong...Again, a follow-up study of Japanese fishermen who were contaminated with plutonium after the nuclear tests at Bikini found 25 years later that none of them had died from cancer.

After the Chernobyl disaster it was also predicted that the incidence of cancer among those affected by fallout would greatly increase and there would be huge genetic damage to future generations. It was about as bad an accident to a nuclear power station (a badly constructed one) as is likely to happen. Its psychological effect was huge and changed people's perception of the risk of nuclear energy all over the world.

Indeed, it is constantly cited as an example of the unparalleled threat to health from nuclear disasters. Tragically, it led to 31 deaths, mainly among rescue workers who were exposed to very high doses of radiation. Yet in the areas around Chernobyl the extra radiation to which people were exposed in the nine years following the accident was slight - an increase of about 0.8- 1.4 mSv.

In May 2001, in the Ukrainian town of Pripyat, which is now a ghost town after its complete evacuation, the average amount of persistent radiation found was 0.9 mSv a year, five times lower than the level in New York's Grand Central Station. In parts of southwest France the levels of natural radiation are as high as 870 mSv a year.

There is strong evidence that people exposed to low doses of radiation - amounts 100 times more than the recommended range - actually benefit. The incidence of thyroid cancers among children under 15 exposed to fallout from Chernobyl was far lower than the normal incidence of thyroid cancer among Finnish children.

from http://www.stephenpollard.net/001719.html

T.D. Luckey, in his 1991 book entitled Radiation Hormesis, reported extensive data on the indicated topic, including data showing that repeated mild stresses associated with chronic low-rate exposure (involving low-LET radiation or low- plus high-LET radiation) significantly reduced the cancer incidence or mortality to below the level for spontaneously occurring cancers. Recently, such chronic radiation hormesis has been demonstrated for lung cancer in a very large number of epidemiological and ecological studies (Sanders and Scott 2007).

from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=2592992

[FreeHugeMovies]

Radon gas kills more people every year than drunk driving. The chances of granite having elevated Radon levels is almost nil. Also, the amount of Radon granite can give off is generally very low.

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by Karen Kougar

As if there was even consensus that this would be harmful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis



from http://www.stephenpollard.net/001719.html



from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=2592992

Good read.

Thank you dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhling.

[F-U-Jimmy]

I have around 120 sq foot of Granite counter tops (Ubatuba) And i use it as a contraceptive. Just rest my balls on the surface for 20 minutes and all the sperm dies.

Its a bit like the old wives tale in the UK when people placed as watch with glowing hand next to their balls because the watch hands used to be covered with a radio active material to make them glow at night . Supposedly the radiation killed sperm ( most likely mutated it ?? )

[Karen Kougar]

Originally Posted by Barefootsies

Thank you dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhling.

My pleasure, sweetie - but all this time I've been dying for you to call me "toots"!

xoxoxox,
KK

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by Karen Kougar

My pleasure, sweetie - but all this time I've been dying for you to call me "toots"!

xoxoxox,
KK

Send me some pictures of your toes and soles, and I'll call you more than that lova.

[beemk]

you're more likely to have asbestos or mold.

[Porn Producer]

Originally Posted by Barefootsies

I was pricing out new counter tops, and was thinking of doing prefab granite for kitchen. Then I come across this little gem.

like you could afford one

you'd have to post "revised stolen content partnership" threads for the rest of your life