Are my counters giving me a headache? Part two: radon and granite

Yesterday, I devoted numerous space to answering a reader query approximately something she notion she'd heard approximately granite counters emitting a gasoline that gave her a headache and will make humans ill.

She did not realize the phrases, but what she turned into asking about turned into Radon coming from granite counters. Yesterday's column defined the terms atom, radiation, radioactivity and radon. Now that I've installed those terms, I'm going delve lower back into the topic and write approximately how Radon receives into granite counters and whether or not it's dangerous.

Uranium is a not unusual atom in soil and rocks international. Uranium is an volatile atom it sheds its more components to emerge as Radon. Radon is a fuel and it's also an volatile atom. As Radon sheds its more components, it paperwork 4 daughters. Inhaling those 4 daughter atoms in excessive concentrations and over a long time frame can boom the probabilities that who ever's respiration them may additionally broaden lung most cancers.

So as I've been pronouncing all alongside, Uranium, Radon and Radon's 4 daughters are all certainly occurring, commonplace matters. All existence in the world is surrounded by these radioactive atoms and for the maximum component, they are innocent. It's a good component they may be because it is not viable to take away heritage radiation from the surroundings. Still with me?

Because Uranium is one of these usually-discovered material inside the surface of the earth, some thing that comes from the earth may have a few strains of Uranium in it and will consequently be radioactive. Where there may be Uranium, Radon and her 4 daughters are positive to follow.

How a lot Radon is within the environment obviously depends loads of things, the primary being your location. Some bedrock has more Uranium and consequently Radon, than others. I observed this map at the US Environmental Protection Agency's web sites that shows the Radon distribution inside the US. I recognise a variety of you who read this don't stay within the US. I could not find a similar global map. If you are worried approximately the Radon for your place, check with the surroundings ministry on your country.

In a whole lot of cases, these Radon warm zones also show up to be parts of the country with granite bedrock, however no longer usually. Radon is a dense gas and it is heavier than air. It has a tendency to pool in low areas and its presence comes and goes, even in a particularly wealthy Radon warm spot. Just as it's there, does not mean it is a trouble. Radon is colorless, odorless, and tasteless gasoline. You can not see it or feel that it's present. You can't inform if you're breathing it either. Air motion makes it dissipate and that moving air dilutes it to the point of harmlessness. Radon can handiest be a hassle if it is allowed to pool and in maximum houses, which could best manifest in a basement. If you have got Radon pooling in your unventilated basement, the simplest manner to discover it is to have a Radon take a look at performed by using a Radon Mitigation Specialist. Radon checking out is now mandatory in most parts of america, and it needs to be done every time a house sells. If it seems that you have excessive tiers of Radon in your own home, then you definitely need to have a air flow device mounted that's designed to vent Radon. It isn't always a large deal however Radon is something you don't want pooling on your basement. It's interesting to be aware that Radon mitigation systems are designed to dilute Radon, no longer do away with it. Eliminating all lines of Radon is not possible. Please don't forget that.

Exposure to alpha particle radiation (it's the form of radiation we're speakme approximately) is unavoidable if you breathe air. But radiation exposure, like publicity to whatever potentially risky, is a question of the way a lot and for a way long. Long-term exposure to excessive concentrations is the hassle, no longer the radiation itself.

Granite comes from bedrock and some granites have Uranium in them. You can not tell from searching at a slab of granite if it incorporates Uranium. Some stone yards are imparting to send samples from a slab to a laboratory for evaluation. If it makes humans experience higher, then why no longer? I say that it's useless, however who am I to stop people from losing their money?

It's not just me and my opinion here either. There is near unanimity in the scientific community when it comes to the safety of granite counters. Two leading authorities on indoor environmental exposures, Dr. John McCarthy, of Environmental Health & Engineering, and Dr. John D. Spengler,of the Harvard School of Public Health, recently concluded: “A considerable amount of research has been published in peer-reviewed scientific literature and all of it comes to the same conclusion: the levels of radon coming off a granite counter are not excessive and not showing any risk for the population in their homes.” Actual, peer-reviewed, real scientific studies show again and again that granite counters pose no risk to consumers. [1]

Now I've seen the YouTube videos of Geiger counters clicking away as they sit on granite counters, but those videos aren't really telling you a whole lot other than that there's radiation present. A Geiger counter can't tell you what kind of radiation it's detecting. When it comes to radiation threats, the kind of radiation means everything and the amount not so much. For kicks, I'd love to see some of these video makers hold a Geiger counter over some other common, radioactive objects. Smoke detectors, bricks, cinder blocks, Sheetrock, well water, spring water, ceramic dishes and other stuff that comes from the earth are also radioactive. Some foods like bananas and Brazil nuts are too. The potassium your body can't function without is radioactive, and so for that matter, are you.

I don't think that granite counters pose any kind of a Radon threat, though I'm sure some of them emit small amounts of Radon. However, there is simply not enough granite in a counter for the counter to cause a Radon problem. The real problem with Radon, if there is a problem, is in the bedrock under your house.

If you're concerned, by all means get some tests done. If there's a problem, by all means get it dealt with. The US EPA has a great website with a page dedicated to Radon testing and mitigation. At the end of the day though, I am confident enough that I will continue to specify granite counters (and bricks, and cinder blocks, and Sheetrock) and I will continue to hang out in stone yards.

Oh! And on a lighter note, there was a time in the not too distant past when Uranium, Radium and Radon were thought to be health foods. Radon was added to water to "fortify" it and Radium was available as a supplement. Most curious of all was that Radium was sold to men as a suppository. This box of Radium suppositories is from 1930.

Here's an excerpt from its accompanying pamphlet:

Weak Discouraged Men!

Now Bubble Over with Joyous Vitality

Through the Use of

Glands and Radium

". . . properly functioning glands make themselves known in a quick, brisk step, mental alertness and the ability to live and love in the fullest sense of the word . . . A man must be in a bad way indeed to sit back and be satisfied without the pleasures that are his birthright! . . . Try them and see what good results you get!"

Those suppositories are from a website called Radioactive Quack Cures. It's a riot and it ought to help put a new perspective on the Kenoki Foot Pads and Reiki Therapy quack cures of today.

[1] Independent research studies include those cited above, as well as:

• Al-Jarallah MI, et al. 2005. Correlation between radon exhalation and radium content in granite samples used as construction materials in Saudi Arabia. Radiation Measurements, 40, 625-629.

• NCRP Report No. 95. 1987. Radiation exposure of the U.S. population from consumer products and miscellaneous sources. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Bethesda, MD.