UPDATE: September 9, 2008: (The latest Al Gerhart diatribe from the Solid Surface Alliance as email to Tom Cordova):
Tom,
I laughed my ass off reading your description of the SSA and the MIA battle on your website. You were so right about the small pockets, we have hardly any money. Thank god for all the experts that are willing to donate their time and services to researching these topics. Then you got the MIA hiring consultants for the big bucks, but we are eating their lunch. I understand that Chuck, their technical guy, is battling their PR guys over what is being done, if so, it speaks well for Chuck. The MIA agreed to back off the PR stuff at the Wednsday meeting at AARST and cooperate with the CRPCD and AARST, but time will tell. —- END —

UPDATE – August 9, 2008 (By Tom Cordova): The Granite Radiation Main Event is set! In one corner you have the Solid Surface Alliance (SSA) wearing extra tight shorts with small pockets. In the other corner, you have the Marble Institute of America (MIA) representing over 2,000 stone companies worldwide in the multi-billion dollar natural stone industry. The MIA wants the fight to go the distance and let the judges decide. SSA would like to win but more importantly wants to be sure there is enough blood on the mat to leave a stench. Two underdogs…no winners.

UPDATE – July 2008 (By Tom Cordova): There sure is a lot of talk these days about radiation from granite countertops! The Solid Surface Alliance seems to be spending a lot of time investigating the matter; however, their data will always be questioned due to the obvious self-enrichment gained by discrediting the natural stone industry. I do appreciate the amount of research by them and hope that it can be evaluated without prejudice.

It is my current opinion that the level of radiation and radon emitted from 99% of granite countertops has not been proven dangerous. I even question the other 1% but there are a lot of exceptions in life so I imagine it is possible.

Regarding the new sealer mentioned below, if a sealer that has been design to eliminate staining and reduce scratching on kitchen countertop surfaces (including solid surfaces) and also can block/reduce radon emission, then it should be publicized as an added benefit, regardless of its need to do so.

The article below discusses a new sealer, currently being called Moh9. Moh9 has been specially formulated for natural stone countertops and is also being tested to block radon along with its other remarkable benefits. It can not block gamma radiation and does not claim to do so.
END OF UPDATE-July 2008.

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Moh9 is currently being tested in an ultra thin (1 mil thick) clear coating that can be UV-cured in less than 3 seconds. An air-cured version will be available but will not have the scratch resistances and rapid curing properties of the UV-cure.

It is designed to be almost odorless, meeting USDA requirements and 100% VOC compliant. This is ‘Green Product’ that should last up to 20 years.

The primary reason for creating Moh9 was to provide a space age countertop sealer for softer products like marble and limestone so they can be used in a kitchen environment without the problems associated with staining and scratching. Moh9 provides an increased surface hardness and has proven stain proof properties. It will be available by September 1st, worldwide, from Stone Management Group, Inc.

Why could Moh9 block radon? (Excerpt taken from Fred Z)
There are two aspects to this subject: one is the inherent natural radioactivity that might be contained in marble and granite, such as uranium, thorium and potassium-40; the other is the radon gas that is produced by the decay of the uranium and that can diffuse out of the base material and become airborne.

Most radon contamination in a house comes from the soils around its foundation.

The radon diffuses into the house through cracks and crevices in the foundation.

Uranium and thorium decay through a series of alpha, beta and gamma particle emissions. The alpha and beta particles do not penetrate very far and are usually absorbed by the base material. The gamma rays are more penetrating and they are what is detected by a Geiger counter. Potassium-40 is about 0.01 percent of natural potassium and it emits a gamma ray when it decays. However, it has a very long half-life (over 1 billion years). Thus, any material that contains potassium (including people) will be very slightly radioactive from potassium-40.

Moh9 was designed to bond to natural stone countertops. It blocks diffusion paths that could emit radon gas. If all surfaces of a material were coated, then the diffusion of gases from the material should be eliminated.

The original 2007 article has been moved to GRANITEstock.com

Granite Radiation Danger (It’s a Myth)

What you should know:

A while ago a story was published in a solid surface trade publication about the use of granite countertops and the release of Radon gas. This produced a myth that granite countertops are dangerous. …
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