Plaintiffs Lawyers Have New Target: Radon-Emitting Granite Countertops

Tort Law

Plaintiffs Lawyers Have New Target: Radon-Emitting Granite Countertops

Posted Jul 24, 2008, 05:13 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Plaintiffs lawyers are advertising on the Internet for clients whose granite countertops are emitting high levels of radon.

The lawyers see opportunity in surprising disclosures that a small number of granite countertops contain radioactive uranium that releases radon as it decays, the New York Times reports. Preliminary results from tests by scientists at Rice University found that a handful of 55 granite samples tested emitted radiation at levels 100 times or more above background.

Stanley Liebert, the quality assurance director of radon testing company CMT Laboratories said most granite is safe. “But I’ve seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little,” he told the newspaper.

Ernest Chiodo, a Detroit physician and lawyer with an expertise in toxic tort law, told the Times that many cases may be filed, but few will be winners. “I think it will be like the mold litigation a few years back, where some cases were legitimate and a whole lot were not,” he said.

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Posted by Al Gerhart - 3 months, 4 weeks, 2 days, 3 hours, 9 minutes ago

We were background for that story, sent them to Dr. Chiodo and other experts. Not sure why they didn’t use us in the story, but they left out dozens of sources as well. Too hot to print I guess

We have tons of information, far, far more than the NY Times used in their story. If anyone is intersted email or visit solidsurfacealliance.org/blog or solidsurfacealliance.org
Posted by Christina Weigel - 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 22 hours, 38 minutes ago

In the NY Times article they mention stones from Namibia. Google Africa Range collection & you’ll see the colors coming from Namibia. It’s hard to believe the American company who owns the quarry & imports it here wouldn’t know about this issue as the quarry, “Stone Africa”, is smack dab in the middle of a very radioactive region of Namibia. They are located near Rossing open pit uranium mine & just North of an EPL owned by Bannerman Resouces who is propecting for uranium. Bannerman thinks they will have uranium on par with Rossing which has operated since the ‘70’s.
Posted by nudger - 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 14 hours, 51 minutes ago

There are dozens of things in your kitchen that are millions of times more likely to kill you than your countertops. The most likely way to die is simply falling down. Accidentally drinking the cleaning stuff underneath the sink is up there, as is eating something from the fridge that’s gone bad.

To put it in perspective, drinking from BPA-coated bottles while sitting on your granite countertops for a few hundred thousand years increases your risk of death about as much as eating just one raw oyster.

But hey, it’s good that the lawyers are on this one. They can help us sue the manufacturers, so we can all can take our winnings and go back to the familiar safety of our freeways, workplaces and extreme-sport vacations.
Posted by Michael Blake - 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours, 24 minutes ago

It’s also another excuse for my wife to stay out of the kitchen! Can you imagine a better scenario—the wife makes me spend $60,000 on a new kitchen with black granite countertops. She rarely cooks more than a cup of soup for me, and now, I don’t expect to see her anywhere near the place. Restaurants will be thrilled!
Posted by AEZ - 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour, 54 minutes ago

I’m glad I’m not Michael Blake’s wife.
Posted by Mrs. Michael Blake - 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 49 minutes ago

Thank God I have Juan the pool boy to help me with my daily tasks and to entertain me when Michael is off billing all those hours so he can buy me my new kitchen.
Posted by Christina W - 3 months, 4 weeks, 1 day, 8 minutes ago

Mike Blake & Mrs. Blake,
Good news: your black granite countertops are most likely some of the lowest radiating granites available. Enjoy your new kitchen.
Posted by Juan the Pool Boy - 3 months, 4 weeks, 22 hours, 12 minutes ago

It is my continuing pleasure to assist Mrs. Blake with all of her needs. I’m just not going to do it on the kitchen countertop anymore.
Posted by Jr. Blake - 3 months, 4 weeks, 20 hours, 47 minutes ago

Is Juan the Pool Boy my real daddy?
Posted by Rossing Granite Corp - 3 months, 4 weeks, 14 hours, 21 minutes ago

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Blake: Your new granite countertops have arrived from Namibia. I sent my two best installers to your house this afternoon, but no one answered the door bell. They heard someone screaming “one”, “one”, ‘oh one”, but they had two countertops, so they left. Please call when you are available.
Posted by Bill Dugan - 3 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 22 hours, 18 minutes ago

What’s the fuss with Blake? I’m in the same boat. Our kitchen—which was fully functional, and hardly EVER used—absolutely HAD to be redone; from top to bottom; all new appliances, countertops, islands, granite, LG, you name it, we now have it, and, as before, it remains as unused as the old one. I never expected my wife to beclome a chef-Tell, but to spend over $80K (no mistake) on all this and get nothing for it but dust and dirt for 3 months really isn’t worth the hassle. And now to find out there may be radon—I now will have to get it tested and probably removed—leaving another 80K renovation to get it back to where we started. $160K for an unused room. This is the price we all must pay to keep our wives happy, so live with it, fellas. Oh and by the way, my wife and I do have a good life together free of any pool guy, and I am not really complaining.
Posted by Huligar - 3 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 16 hours, 13 minutes ago

When marketing a product, one expects a bit of hype. The idea is to show that the product is the best over the competitor’s line of product. That is the trade of advertisers and the history of marketing. Some tactics used to sell can be humorous or as serious as the competition between manufacturers. Marketing tactics that play on fears of the general public can be a very powerful tool.

In the present day, there’s a very popular angle of “green.“ This is prevalent everywhere in the media. So what happens when you mix a scare tactic under the guise of environmental concern?

Buildclean found the answer to that question. The premise seems of the nonprofit organization seems to be admirable but the fact that the “awareness campaign” that Buildclean is currently using seems to be curiously slanted. In fact, the target seems to be the natural stone industry.

When Sara Selber of BuildClean was asked how she got involved in natural stone and radon, she explained how she was approached by the owner of C&C North America, a company that produces two products – granite and a quartz product called Silestone®™.
“C&C North America then recruited a quartz company called Cambria, after they learned quartz was an issue, she further explained that the two companies hired her to test quartz, granite and other surfaces for radon emission. Both companies are testing their products through BuildClean, and they contracted two labs – one in New York and one in Israel.

We have looked all over the C&C website but cannot find any mention of natural stone.

When ask what granites emit radon, Sara Selber said; “Not all granites emit radon or radiation. There are some that clearly do. There are some that absolutely don’t. We don’t know,“ she said.

They’re being set up as a non-profit, and they’re funded with two large donations.
The first is $250,000 from the makers of ‘Silestone.‘ They manufacture quartz countertops, which is a direct competitor to granite. Silestone finance records show that they started out in April of 1998 with a an initial investment of $410K, made there first million in 1998, sales in 2002 was over $70M, and sales in 2006 was well over $260M. it is not hard to see that they have the money to invest $250,000 in a new advertising campaign.

BuildClean is also getting money from Cambria, another quartz manufacturer.
In fact, Cambria’s marketing director is on BuildClean’s board of directors.

When asked about the funding Sara responds: I don’t believe the issue is who our founders are. And I’m not going to have that debate.“ That answer seems to be clear enough.

In a recent interview Mrs. Selber mentions teaming up with Al Gerhart who has some interest in the granite \radon scare.

Al Gerhart is a carpenter whohappens to own a website called the Solid Surface Alliance .org. He educated himself, regarding materials he works with that may expose him to harmful elements.“

Upon further review it seems this “personality” is well known for his view of natural stone. All one has to do is look at the website to get the gist of his viewpoint. Coincidentally, there also seems to be a new business venture for Solid Surface Alliance as the website now sells Geiger counters to detect radiation…
His debates have earned him quite a place online in forums discussing the subject.

After a certain debate on a well known residential forum, a renowned geoscientist in the industry concluded:
“Al attempts to hijack debates by choking the system with verbal diarrhea. The problem appears to be that he has a bit of knowledge about some things but not enough sense and understanding of the subjects. In that debate on the Garden Forum he threw in so many fabrications (plain made up lies) that his credibility just plummeted to zero.

Anyone who operates this way (by including a number of facts to gain an element of credibility in the eyes of a generally uninformed audience, twisting facts deliberately or because of his lack of understanding, and then throwing in a number of lies) does not deserve extended airtime. Many years ago when doing science psychology I still remember my professor giving the advice to his students that you should never engage a nutter in debate. You can never win an argument with such people. I recognized this early in the forum and that is why I would not engage him in “debate”.
Posted by Huligar - 3 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 16 hours, 12 minutes ago

One of his major problems is that he does not know what the numbers mean and how they are derived.“

In response to the buildclean tactics, The Marble Institute of America is in the process of doing their own independent study:

“The Marble Institute of America (MIA) is grateful for the preliminary response from the members to the newly established Truth About Granite Fund. Based on this positive response, it’s clear that their colleagues share their commitment to protect consumers from needless fear mongering by establishing standards for the testing of granite so consumers can safely and comfortably enjoy the beauty, durability and practicality of this natural stone.“

When we asked the MIA why Sara Speer Selber consider The Truth About Granite Fund as a draconian move that is being waged against BuildClean(TM), they simple responded:

“The Truth About Granite Fund was established to help raise funds to develop unbiased, scientific standards for the granite industry, including the testing of granite for radon. No such standards currently exist in the natural stone industry. Previous tests of granite samples have found they are safe. However, the Truth in Granite Fund aims to take advantage of new, advanced scientific instruments that make testing both more practical and more accurate. Our goal is to make sure testing follows consistent protocols, so that future studies are meaningful and based on consistent, approved science – not isolated methodologies or unapproved instruments. Ultimately, our goal is to make sure the granite we sell is safe.“

This latest sales tactic received the attention of an independent group called the Natural Stone Restoration Alliance (NSRA). The NSRA saw Radon testing as an added service that their members could provide to the homeowners along with all their other services for natural stone. Josveek Huligar, one of the lead testers and trainer for the NSRA , invited times Members of the Solid Surface Alliance dot org to discuss and provide proof of this threat to the home owners. I The Solid Surface Alliance dot org agreed to provide an alleged radiation producing granite sample that they claim to have in their possession to do independent testing. After an initial agreement between the two groups it seems the Solid Surface Alliance dot org has reneged on the delivery of the alleged material. Mr Huligar was disappointed of the outcome. The NSRA than requested the name of the company that Mr. Gerhart claimed to just have rejected over 10k worth of radon producing granite. When the information was not provided, Huligar ask if he could purchase the next slab that Mr. Gerhart rejected. But for some reason Mr. Gerhart could no longer find a sample for testing. Mr. Huligar went on to say: “All we care about at this point. As for whether are not Stone adds a measurable amount of “radon” in a home, Mr. Gerhart had agreed to come to NY and pick out a hot slab that I would place in my own home after testing my home for radon. Once the granite was installed I would test my home again as described by the EPA and have it tested by someone approved by the EPA. Not only would we do the short and long term test, we would also video tape the whole event, the selection, the creation, the install, and than setting up cameras for anyone to view the stone and meters on the net. I was looking forward to do this, but at this time it appears that Mr. Gerhart has no plans on doing as he said which is a big disappointment.“

The NSRA plans to push for this simple test, they feel that the consumers only care about one thing; “whether or not adding granite in your home would significantly change the radon levels in a home”. At present, the most prudent consumer should watch the outcome of this debate and make an informed decision, not taken in by a scare tactic by advertisers.

EPA Confirms That Granite Countertops Pose No Significant Health Risk
http://nsraweb.com/index.php/Latest/EPA_Confirms_That_Granite_Countertops_Pose_No_Significant_Health_Risk.htm
Posted by Silly man - 3 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes ago

Hey, someone take a good long look at this Huligar guy. Looks like he might have some thing to hide.
Posted by Andy the Lawyer - 3 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 19 hours, 1 minute ago

I bet that a geiger counter in Huligar’s presence chatters like Dan Savage in a room full of autistic kids.
Posted by 7b - 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 20 hours, 15 minutes ago

Andy the Lawyer: I’m assuming you mean Michael Savage, the conservative talk-radio host that cast dispersions on children diagnosed with autism, and not Dan Savage, the (progressive) writer of the hugely popular sex-advice column Savage Love?
Posted by Tiffany Daniels - 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 1 hour, 14 minutes ago

We understand why homeowners would be alarmed by this story, but the Marble Institute of America would like to assure people that research shows granite countertops pose no threat. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Reports and repeated independent studies have shown granite countertops pose no health hazard.
• EPA stated Friday: “EPA has no reliable data to conclude that types of granite used in countertops are significantly increasing indoor radon levels.” (http://iaq.custhelp.com/cgibin/iaq.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php)
• University of Akron researchers found no threat. (www.marble-institute.com/industryresources/radontesting_u-akron2008.pdf
• An independent scientific analysis of a variety of studies shows that, accounting for normal airflow in the typical home, radon contributed by granite countertops ranges from 0.01 – 0.02 pCi/L – levels that are 200 to 400 times lower than the EPA guideline of 4 pCi/L.

By some measures, the amount of radon emitted by a granite countertop is less than one millionth of that already present in household air from other sources. Many granite countertops do not emit radon at all, and those treated with sealant reduce emissions even further.

Tiffany Daniels
Cohn & Wolfe on behalf of the Marble Institute of America
Posted by 7b - 3 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 35 minutes ago

Arg, mea culpa. I had meant to say “aspersions”.
Posted by silly man - 3 months, 3 weeks, 31 minutes ago

What a PR firm!
The MIA had to retract their statemens of EPA report on Tuesday!!!!!

Solidsurfacealliance.org/blog has the entire story along with copies of Cohn & Wolfe/MIA talking points, form letters of outrage, and their entire stratagy to confuse the public.

A good look at the MIA might be a good thing too, they have millions in Board of Directors insurance.

Nice fat target just digging the hole deeper.

Sic em!!!

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