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Radon Worries Don't Bother Local Granite Seller

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

"There is no health issue," John Burbidge says of rumors of radon problems with granite countertops. "This is a smoke screen other people have brought up."

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2008

TAMPA - Granite is good to John Burbridge, and he returns the favor.

Inside his StoneTop warehouse on East Broadway Avenue in the shadow of a U.S. 301 bridge, Burgridge can't help but admire the finished product, shiny and splashed with colorful mineral grain, beveled, shaped and ready to be shipped.

He shrugs off persistent rumors of deadly radon gas being emitted from the granite countertops. Sure, he says, radon is found everywhere, and some of it may come from granite, but whatever comes out of the popular stone slabs, it's nothing. Radon is a natural occurrence that comes out of dirt and stones and is plentiful in Florida. Certainly, granite radon isn't nearly enough to raise any concerns.

Every few years, those who want consumers to use something other than granite run the rumors up the pole, he said. Sometimes the media bites, sometimes not.

He said that the most recent rumors resurfaced in a New York Times story about radioactive countertops.

Burbridge is up on current affairs in his field. He's a member of the Marble Institute of America and is aware of the rumors going around. He has been working with granite for years and has run his business for about six years. He offers a variety of countertops, but granite is his bread and butter, he said.

He sells granite that comes from Brazil, Italy, China and India. Granite comes in a myriad of colors and styles. Some granite is black with silver flecks. Some is slate gray and marbled with soft white veins. He has a team of workers who cut and shape large plates to fit a particular space.

No customers have asked about radon, he said.

"There is no health issue," he said. "This is a smoke screen other people have brought up."

Granite countertops have gained popularity over the past few years, he said, mainly because the cost has gone down. "There is a lot of granite out there," he said. And the tastes of homeowners have gone up.

"It used to be only high-end," he said, "But now, we're putting granite into mid-level homes."

The Marble Institute of America's Web site says that there is indeed trace amounts of radioactivity in granite, as is in most rocks and minerals, but that the emission of radon, a radioactive gas, is negligible.

"Compared to other radiation sources in the home and outside, the risk to the homeowner from radioactivity emitted from a granite countertop or tiles is practically nonexistent," said a technical bulletin posted on the Institute's Web site. "The amount of radon gas emitted by a granite countertop is less than one millionth of what already is present in household air from other sources."

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, radon is a natural byproduct and is present in a wide variety of rocks and minerals. At high levels, it can be dangerous, the EPA said.

"Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas," said the EPA's Web site on the subject. "You can't see radon. And you can't smell it or taste it."

The gas can lead to lung cancer. Radon is thought to cause thousands of deaths each year.

"The Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States today," the EPA Web site said. "Only smoking causes more lung cancer deaths."

Anyone concerned about radon in their homes, whether they have granite countertops or not, can buy testing kits either through mail-order outlets or local hardware stores. The tests are simple to perform and aren't costly, the EPA said.

The hubbub stems from a statement issued by an organization named BuildClean, a nonprofit group that fosters research into health issues involving indoor building materials.

The first project of BuildClean, which was founded last year, was a study concerning natural stone products including countertops.

It cites a Rice University study that concludes some granite countertops emitted radon gas well above the level considered safe.

Sara Speer Selber, president of BuildClean, in a published statement, said:

"I don't have to tell anyone reading this column that granite has become the status surface in American kitchens, which means thousands of families — children and pregnant women — may be exposed to emissions, even if only a few colors of granite prove to be potentially harmful."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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