MIA Initiates Granite Testing Plan
The program features a standard test for radon and radiation in granite, along with a labeling program with Home Approved Stone stickers for approved materials.
"We want to reassure consumers once and for all that the granite countertops they buy for their homes pose no health risk to their families," said MIA President Guido Gliori.
The MIA will distribute stringent testing protocols that granite distributors and fabricators can use to test granite for the presence of radon and radiation. All products that pass the uniform test will be labeled with a Home Approved Stone logo, clearly showing they have been screened and approved for interior use.
Details of the program's implementation are still being finalized with scientific consultants and will be in place before any stone is labeled. Gliori said granite slabs bearing the Home Approved Stone logo should start appearing in showrooms in the coming months.
"Though all the rigorous scientific studies have yet to find a single stone that poses a health risk, consumers who want to be absolutely, positively, 100-percent confident about their granite countertops need only to look for the Home Approved Stone logo," said Gliori.
If ongoing testing identifies specific types of stone posing a health risk, the MIA will issue an industry warning to its members, making them aware of a potential problem. The goal is to prevent stones that pose any risk at all from being used indoors.
The testing protocols were developed by independent scientists and researchers following a comprehensive study of granite countertops and radon/radiation exposure by Environmental Health and Engineering Inc. at the behest of the MIA. The tests are designed to ensure granite used in home countertops poses no health risk to consumers.
The protocols have been submitted for peer review to scientific organizations involved in radon and radiation testing. Since the process of creating a universally accepted scientific standard may take years, the industry chose to deploy its protocols to educate and protect the public.
Gliori claimed that over the past several months, manufacturers of products that compete with granite countertops have purposely misled consumers about granite's safety by promoting questionable science as fact.
"The lack of a universal standard enabled some organizations with questionable motives to promote the results of research based on testing that was at best inconsistent and at worst, completely flawed," Gliori said. "Those days are over. That's great news for consumers because we now have a universal, consistent testing protocol that allows consumers to be completely confident that the granite countertops they choose for their homes are every bit as safe as they are durable, practical and beautiful.”