Granite Care

When marketing a product, one expects a bit of hype. The idea is to show that the product is the best over the competitor’s line of product. That is the trade of advertisers and the history of marketing. Some tactics used to sell can be humorous or as serious as the competition between manufacturers. Marketing tactics that play on fears of the general public can be a very powerful tool.

In the present day, there’s a very popular angle of "green." This is prevalent everywhere in the media. So what happens when you mix a scare tactic under the guise of environmental concern?

Buildclean found the answer to that question. The premise seems of the nonprofit organization seems to be admirable but the fact that the "awareness campaign" that Buildclean is currently using seems to be curiously slanted. In fact, the target seems to be the natural stone industry.

When Sara Selber of BuildClean was asked how she got involved in natural stone and radon, she explained how she was approached by the owner of C&C North America, a company that produces two products – granite and a quartz product called Silestone®™.
"C&C North America then recruited a quartz company called Cambria, after they learned quartz was an issue, she further explained that the two companies hired her to test quartz, granite and other surfaces for radon emission. Both companies are testing their products through BuildClean, and they contracted two labs – one in New York and one in Israel. 

We have looked all over the C&C website but cannot find any mention of natural stone.

When ask what granites emit radon, Sara Selber said; "Not all granites emit radon or radiation. There are some that clearly do. There are some that absolutely don’t. We don’t know," she said.

They’re being set up as a non-profit, and they’re funded with two large donations.
The first is $250,000 from the makers of ‘Silestone.’ They manufacture quartz countertops, which is a direct competitor to granite. Silestone finance records show that they started out in April of 1998 with a an initial investment of $410K, made there first million in 1998, sales in 2002 was over $70M, and sales in 2006 was well over $260M. it is not hard to see that they have the money to invest $250,000 in a new advertising campaign.

BuildClean is also getting money from Cambria, another quartz manufacturer.
In fact, Cambria’s marketing director is on BuildClean’s board of directors.

When asked about the funding Sara responds: I don’t believe the issue is who our founders are. And I’m not going to have that debate." That answer seems to be clear enough.

In a recent interview Mrs. Selber mentions teaming up with Al Gerhart who has some interest in the granite \radon scare.

Al Gerhart is a carpenter whohappens to own a website called the Solid Surface Alliance .org. He educated himself, regarding materials he works with that may expose him to harmful elements."

Upon further review it seems this "personality" is well known for his view of natural stone. All one has to do is look at the website to get the gist of his viewpoint. Coincidentally, there also seems to be a new business venture for Solid Surface Alliance as the website now sells Geiger counters to detect radiation…

His debates have earned him quite a place online in forums discussing the subject.

After a certain debate on a well known residential forum, a renowned geoscientist in the industry concluded:
"Al attempts to hijack debates by choking the system with verbal diarrhea.  The problem appears to be that he has a bit of knowledge about some things but not enough sense and understanding of the subjects.  In that debate on the Garden Forum he threw in so many fabrications (plain made up lies) that his credibility just plummeted to zero.

Anyone who operates this way (by including a number of facts to gain an element of credibility in the eyes of a generally uninformed audience, twisting facts deliberately or because of his lack of understanding, and then throwing in a number of lies) does not deserve extended airtime.   Many years ago when doing science psychology I still remember my professor giving the advice to his students that you should never engage a nutter in debate.  You can never win an argument with such people.   I recognized this early in the forum and that is why I would not engage him in "debate".

One of his major problems is that he does not know what the numbers mean and how they are derived."

In response to the buildclean tactics, The Marble Institute of America is in the process of doing their own independent study:

"The Marble Institute of America (MIA) is grateful for the preliminary response from the members to the newly established Truth About Granite Fund.  Based on this positive response, it’s clear that their colleagues share their commitment to protect consumers from needless fear mongering by establishing standards for the testing of granite so consumers can safely and comfortably enjoy the beauty, durability and practicality of this natural stone."

When we asked the MIA why Sara Speer Selber consider The Truth About Granite Fund  as a draconian move that is being waged against BuildClean(TM), they simple responded:

"The Truth About Granite Fund was established to help raise funds to develop unbiased, scientific standards for the granite industry, including the testing of granite for radon.  No such standards currently exist in the natural stone industry.  Previous tests of granite samples have found they are safe.  However, the Truth in Granite Fund aims to take advantage of new, advanced scientific instruments that make testing both more practical and more accurate. Our goal is to make sure testing follows consistent protocols, so that future studies are meaningful and based on consistent, approved science – not isolated methodologies or unapproved instruments.  Ultimately, our goal is to make sure the granite we sell is safe." 

This latest sales tactic received the attention of an independent group called the Natural Stone Restoration Alliance (NSRA). The NSRA saw Radon testing as an added service that their members could provide to the homeowners along with all their other services for natural stone. Josveek Huligar, one of the lead testers and trainer for the NSRA , invited times Members of the Solid Surface Alliance dot org to discuss and provide proof of this threat to the home owners.

The Solid Surface Alliance dot org agreed to provide an alleged radiation producing granite sample that they claim to have in their possession to do independent testing. After an initial agreement between the two groups it seems the Solid Surface Alliance dot org has reneged on the delivery of the alleged material. Mr Huligar was disappointed of the outcome. The NSRA than requested the name of the company that Mr. Gerhart claimed to just have rejected over 10k worth of radon producing granite. When the information was not provided, Huligar ask if he could purchase the next slab that Mr. Gerhart rejected. But for some reason Mr. Gerhart could no longer find a sample for testing. Mr. Huligar went on to say:  "All we care about at this point. As for whether are not Stone adds a measurable amount of  "radon" in a home, Mr. Gerhart had agreed to come to NY and pick out a hot slab that I would place in my own home after testing my home for radon. Once the granite was installed I would test my home again as described by the EPA and have it tested by someone approved by the EPA. Not only would we do the short and long term test, we would also video tape the whole event, the selection, the creation, the install, and than setting up cameras for anyone to view the stone and meters on the net. I was looking forward to do this, but at this time it appears that Mr. Gerhart has no plans on doing as he said which is a big disappointment."

The NSRA plans to push for this simple test, they feel that the consumers only care about one thing; "whether or not adding granite in your home would significantly change the radon levels in a home". At present, the most prudent consumer should watch the outcome of this debate and make an informed decision, not taken in by a scare tactic by advertisers.

200407076 | What’s Lurking in Your Countertop | News

In a world gone “green”, everyone these days seems to be on the re-purpose, re-use and recycle, ban wagon. Yet do we truly understand what works, what does not, what is hype, what is real and just what does “going green” really mean?

We can start with the simplest of questions asked every time we visit almost any store – paper or plastic? Of course, this is a huge debate and has been for quite some time. Lets look at them one at a time.

Plastic bags are made from petroleum. Yep, you guessed it – oil. Now to be fair it must be mentioned that plastic is made of a by-product of oil refining. However, it accounts for approximately 4% of the worlds total oil production. That may not sound like a lot, but when you stop and think about it that is a great deal of oil.

Like paper, plastic bags are recyclable. Unfortunately, it usually is not and simply winds up in a landfill. Plastic does not compost like paper does. It does not breakdown over time and 20 years from now, that plastic bag that you sent to the landfill will still be there. Some stores are actually giving credit to people who re-use their plastic bags, but bottom line is, even if you are recycling your plastic, it can only be remelted and remolded a specific number of times before it winds up in the landfill anyway. And then, yes you guessed it again, it is going to be there for another 20 years.

To be fair, there are down sides to using paper as well. Paper uses a lot of natural resources to make. Not only do we consume vast amounts of fuel to run the trucks that get to and from the trees, the equipment necessary for loggers to fell the trees also uses a lot of fuel. Currently most fuel is still made from non-renewable sources. There is an incredible amount of work and time that goes into taking trees down and processing them into paper.

But looking on the positive side, more and more tree farms are being planted for the sole purpose of eventually using them for paper products and other wood based materials. The environmentalists are also ensuring that here in the U.S. at least, multiple alternatives are being sought for fuel to run the equipment and we are learning everyday about more renewable sources of energy to run the equipment needed to take trees down.

Even more positive, paper is not only recyclable it is 100% biodegradable. If it does make its way to a landfill, it will eventually decompose and be returned to the soil. More people are recycling paper everyday. You can even toss it directly into your own composting bin and next year it will be part of the soil you use in your garden or yard. Nearly every major (and many minor) community nationwide has paper-recycling areas where not nearly as many have those for recycling plastics.

You have made your decision. You are doing the environmentally friendly thing to do and are using paper when checking out at the grocery store rather than plastic. This is wonderful. You have also taken other major steps as well to ensure we have environmentally friendly materials in your home. When redoing those floors, you decided that bamboo flooring or some form of natural stone was the better choice - to man made carpeting. All of the newer appliances you have purchased are energy saving and cost effective.

So I have to ask, why do you still have those fake, plastic based and laminated countertops in the kitchen and the bathroom? Formica may be pretty and they can now make it to actually look almost like granite, which you love, but it is still not natural and is still a man made product that is going to live in the landfill for the next 20 years – not decomposing or helping the environment at all. Isn’t it time for you to change that and make your entire home “green” and environmentally friendly?

Plastic, Paper and the Price of Gas | Story