Could Your Kitchen Granite Countertops Give You Cancer?

On July 24, 2008, the New York Times Online had a story about a granite kitchen countertop emitting higher than normal dosages of radiation at Lynn Sugarman's home in Teaneck, N.J. Popularity for granite kitchen tops have grown over the years - and with that so have reports of "hot" granite kitchen tops, primarily from Brazil and Namibia.

Two years ago, my husband and I refurbished our kitchen and bought beautiful granite that originated from Brazil, yet processed through Italy. So, this especially caught our eyes because our granite was from Brazil.

According to the story with Lynn Sugarman, two years ago she decided to do a routine radon gas inspection in her home. Radon gas is a radioactive gas that is said to cause lung cancer. She called a radon and mitigation technician to come out and use a Geiger counter within her home. He went room to room, until he was stopped dead in his tracks around her granite kitchen countertops. His Geiger counter was showing 10 times the amount of radiation compared to other parts of her home. Once she found this out, the next day she ripped the granite kitchen tops out of her home and sent it immediately to her local Department of Health for further analysis.

According to Stanley Liebert, the technician who took the radiation measurement from Lynn Sugarman's home, he says not all granite is dangerous. Nevertheless, he goes on to say, "But I've seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little."

According to the E.P.A., they recommend to take action if radon gas levels in a home which exceeds 4 picocuries per liter of air which is equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day.

The E.P.A. and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission claims that the average person is exposed to radiation from natural and manmade sources at an annual level of 360 milllirem which is a measure of energy absorbed by the body. They go on to say that the commission for people living near nuclear reactors is 100 millirem per year. To put that in perspective, when you fly from New York to Los Angeles, passengers get 3 millirem of cosmic radiation per flight. The particular granite of Lisa Sugarman's might just add a fraction of millirem per hour if you are a few inches away from it touching it continuously.

After reading this article, my husband and I might not necessarily be ripping our granite kitchen tops off any time soon. However, we are going to further investigate it by checking with our local Health Department. I would not be surprise if you start seeing some class action suits down the road because of non disclosure of this potential threat.

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