Granite: Deathtrap?

Is nothing safe any longer? First, we had to avoid cigarettes. Then, the sun. Then, plastic bottles. Now, apparently even a common household material is dangerous, as in "deadly dangerous."

But get this - here's the irony. It's what rich people use. Typically, it's the poor folks, with their formaldehyde-laden man-made materials, who end up with the bad stuff. But this is the hundred-buck-per-square-foot, organic-up-the-kazoo stuff itself: granite countertops.

Yes, it seems that some homeowners are finding deadly radon emanating from their high-end counters. Radon is a radioactive gas linked to lung cancer. The story highlighted here even features a doctor who ripped out his brand-new granite counters because of his pregnant daughter. Really, no laughing matter when you think about it. You spend so much time in the kitchen, and food preparation is important work. Radon ten times greater than normal levels is something to give a person pause.