Fact vs. Fiction

• Fiction: Stone countertops will heat up my Cheerios.
  
  Fact: Despite sensational media stories suggesting that granite countertops might result in radioactive cereal, no credible research conducted to date — including the most comprehensive scientific study of stone countertops — has ever found a single stone slab that poses any health risk.
  
  
• Fiction: But really, stone countertops are harmful for your health.
  
  Fact: The only way a typical stone countertop can hurt you is if you drop it on your foot. After conducting more than 400 tests of 115 different varieties of granite countertops — including stones that some media reports would have us all believe are problematic — scientists could not find a single stone that poses a health risk to consumers. Not one!
  
  
• Fiction: Since I don't have stone countertops I don't need to worry about radon in my home.
  
  Fact: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends homeowners test for radon since the biggest source of radon in a home is the soil beneath the foundation.
  
  
• Fiction: Videos online and in the media show Geiger counters clicking when put next to a stone slab, therefore measuring the amount of radon being emitted.
  
  Fact: The clicks you hear from a Geiger counter aren't radon. Geiger counters actually measure radiation and only basic emissions. You'd hear the same clicking if you put the Geiger counter up to a smoke detector, TV set, bowl of Brazil nuts or a million other things around the house. And all those things are considered perfectly safe. Radon, like radiation, is all around us. Half the background radiation an average American gets every year comes from radon, which comes from the earth. The rest comes from the sun, food, medicine and other products. You even absorb radiation during cross-county flights.