Granite has become a popular building material in kitchens, bathrooms, and entrance ways.   An article in the NY Times this week  has spread alarm.  Some granite may have high levels of radon in it, as a Teaneck, N.J. found out when she had a routine home inspection done  on a summer home two years ago and found unusually high levels of radon in her granite kitchen counter tops and exposure to radon gas has been linked to increased risk of lung cancer.  She had them ripped out.  Her story was told in the New York Times.    
You can read the NY Times report here. 
Here's an  Environmental Protection Agency  statement updated earlier this week in response to the NT Times report. You can  signup to be informed by the EPA when they have posted an update to their Radon/Granite statement.

A response to the NY Times  report from the Marble Institute of America is here.

Whom Do You Trust?

While most American adults say their doctor is their most trusted source for health information,  the trust apparently drops the younger you get and 38%, or 85.6 million U.S. adults, have doubted the opinion of medical professionals when it conflicts with online information.   Two new surveys were recently released about the kinds of health info people look for online and what they make of it. 

The work by the well-known opinion researchers Harris Interactive can be found here.   Harris found a leveling out of online health info surfing at about 80% of adults who are online.  Most find info reliable enough to keep them coming back. 

The market research firm  Kelton Research  looked at age and ethnic groups and authorship of the health info sought. A writeup of their findings can be seen here .