DEFINING GREEN: SUSTAINABLE, RECYCLABLE, ECO-FRIENDLY, NATURAL, HEALTHY?

publication date: Sep 2, 2008

Slowly building momentum in the last half the 20th century, green awareness and demand for environmentally friendly products have exploded in the early years of the new millennium. But, how does health factor into the equation? BuildClean, a not-for-profit organization in Houston, Texas, is asking that question: "What about safe and healthy homes? Is green enough?"

"The building materials used in homes and offices should be getting equal time when it comes to research and awareness," said Sara Speer Selber, president of BuildClean. The organization was founded in late 2007 to generate independent research and communications about healthy, safe and environmental friendly indoor materials. "There is mounting evidence that some popular building products branded as ‘natural' may not necessarily be safe over time."

A Link between Granite and Radon
BuildClean's pilot project focuses on radon and radiation emanation from granite used indoors. A natural stone, granite contains the radioactive element uranium. As uranium decays it forms "radioactive daughters." One of these daughters is radon-a tasteless, odorless gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. According to the Surgeon General, more than 20,000 Americans die from indoor radon-related illnesses every year.

Radon from soil-or more specifically, the earth's rock-has been the focus of indoor testing for years in parts of the country that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified as "hot spots." But radon and radiation, another by-product of uranium and radon, emanating from indoor design elements was not linked until 1995 when Solid Surface magazine (now Surface Fabrication) published an article called "Granite and Radon," which suggested granite countertops may emit harmful levels of radon. However, the Marble Institute of America (MIA)-a trade association for the natural stone industry-reassured the industry and consumers that same year in its technical bulletin "Granite and Radon - The Truth" that "... actual levels of radon gas emissions from granites are so low as to be insignificant and generally represent no threat to the health and well-being of people who live or work in buildings with granite countertops, floors or wall tiles, furniture or any other furnishings made from granite."

Stanley Liebert, senior engineer and managing director of Air Quality and Environmental Services LLC and quality assurance director for CMT Laboratories in upstate New York, a firm that has conducted radon tests for more than two decades, said, "In recent years, technicians have needed to test building materials, like granite, concrete and slate for radon. We're finding that some types of natural stone are emanating radon at rates at or greater than the EPA's recommended action level of 4 picocuries per liter (pCi/l) for mitigation."

The EPA recommends that if a home tests at 4 pCi/l or higher for environmental radon, homeowners should take action. Certain steps can be taken to mitigate environmental radon exposure, such as increasing airflow or, in the case of decorative materials, literally removing the source. 

Liebert cites granite countertops as a potential source of environmental radon. "I have tested literally thousands of homes in my career," he said. "Until I found environmental radon remediated homes still having radon, which prompted us to start including building materials in our test protocol, I would say about 20 percent of the homes tested at 4 pCi/l or more. Since we have expanded the testing to include granite countertops in the kitchen and bath, for example, we are seeing direct measurements of 4 pCi/l-one was as high as 100 pCi/l-from those sources. The first step to solving the problem is testing prior to installation."

A Test Study in Houston
"In our view, the best defense is a good offense," says BuildClean's Speer Selber. In March 2008, the organization launched a 300-home indoor radon and radiation study in Houston. Why Houston?

"Houston is one area of the country that does not yield much, if any, radon from the soil. In addition, the city's tropical summer climate means most homes are air conditioned for months at a time, so testing for indoor radon which might be emanating from building materials is more controlled than in other parts of the U.S., hence yielding more accurate data on whether natural stone used for countertops, floors or walls is contributing to radon emanation," she said.

As of mid-summer, BuildClean had tested roughly half the group's targeted 300 homes. When the study is completed later this fall, 200 homes with granite countertops or floors and an additional 100 ‘control' homes with surfaces varying from ceramic tile to engineered quartz to laminate will have been measured using a five-point protocol developed by independent scientists and researchers for the project.

BuildClean radon measurement specialist Gabriel J. Herrera said he has recorded measurements in excess of the EPA action limit. He cautioned, however, that the study is only midway to completion, and it is too early to draw conclusions. Herrera is a National
Radon Safety Board (NRSB) certified radon measurement specialist (RMS) and one of only a handful of active radon technicians in the state of Texas.

In conjunction with the in-home study, BuildClean has also commissioned radon and radiation granite testing from third-party laboratories both in the United States and abroad.
"If you want the truth, this is what it takes," said Selber. "We aren't out to say granite or any product is bad. We just want consumers and the building industry to have all the information they need to make healthy, safe choices."

Making the Grade
Speer Selber noted that the tremendous increase in American demand over the last 15 plus years for natural stone as a decorative status symbol is one reason consumers should know what they're buying.

"With the huge surge in utilization of natural stone in not just high-end but mid-priced homes, interior designers are seeking more unusual patterns and colors. That has stimulated search on the part of granite quarriers and speculators for more and more exotic granites, which also makes it harder to determine which popular granite colors emanate the least - or more - radon," she said.

Another challenge to consumer knowledge, Speer Selber added, is that the United States does not test building materials for radon or radiation, nor does the government require countries exporting stone into the United States to certify their products.

Nations such as China not only test granite for radon and radiation but also have established categories to describe how those products may be utilized in building applications:
   • Class A Materials - suitable for all residential applications
   • Class B Materials - used for waiting rooms, train station lobbies, areas where people are transient
   • Class C Materials - only used for building exteriors
   • Any material testing above Class C is limited to seawalls, outdoor sculpture/structure-areas with limited human contact
"Granite routinely fails to meet Class A or B, sometimes even C," said Leonard R. Elbon, CEO of Ba Shi Ba Inc., a U.S.-based company focused on the exportation, marketing and production of building materials, particularly to and from Asia and European Union member states.

China is only one of several countries with radiation regulations on building materials. Some European countries have set recommended reference levels as well.

A Call to Action
For BuildClean, granite is only one of many building materials begging for more research. The not-for-profit organization hopes to launch future studies into the resins used to reconstitute bamboo into flooring and other building materials and surfaces that may foster growth of antibiotic-resistant staph (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA).

Speer Selber also envisions BuildClean's website, www.buildclean.org, as an interactive, one-stop resource for consumers, architects and builders; an online equivalent of caffeine for engaging environmentalists, homeowners, designers, architects, retailers, builders and building industry manufacturers and distributors interested in ensuring that the materials we use in our homes and offices are safe, healthy and environmentally friendly.

"This is the next big movement," said Speer Selber. "And it should be a logical next step toward protecting the environment and the humans who have a privilege to share it. 

"We've already ruffled some feathers in the stone industry," she continued, "but our team and a growing number of supporters and concerned consumers believe it's the right thing to do. Think about the first environmental group that questioned whether it was wrong to carelessly dump toxins into our lakes and rivers. A lot of people called them rabble-rousers and quacks, but our lakes and rivers are cleaner now than ever before in the history of an industrialized United States. Yes, it's worth some feather-ruffling," said Speer Selber.