Amsum and Ash

Granite and Marble have been used by mankind for centuries and millennia. We have used natural stone in monuments and buildings, we have used natural stone in our homes and for some of us, we have built homes right on top of natural stone mountains and plateaus.

Thankfully, in the recent years granite and marble have become affordable, available and accessible. This means that many of us can now have another ‘natural’ surface in our home just like wood, wool or cotton and not have to buy artificial and engineered products. As we all try to get closer to nature and away from synthetic goods which are warming up our planet, we continue to enjoy natural beauty through our natural stone tiles and countertops.

This was alarming for producers of aritifical surfaces and engineered stones who were seeing their market share dwindle as natural stone became a natural favorite. A massive marketing campaign was launched to mislead consumers into believing that natural stone is actually harmful. Great money was spent to persuade media to create a false perception to consumers that natural stone is an inferior surface and unsafe, compared to what they manufacture. This is not a new marketing technique, using money and media, formula milk manufacturers once tried to persuade the public that their milk was much superior to natural mother’s milk. For a manufacturer of artifical countertops to claim that it's naturally occurring competitor is harmful is a laughable allegation.

The campaign against natural stone uses the naturally occurring element ‘radon’ as the base of its scare tactic. The fact is radon is in soil, it's in water, it's in air and it's in the things we eat. 69% of radon found in homes comes from the soil around and under the house, 19% from water, 9% from outdoor air and only 3% from bulding materials. [1] The U.S. EPA confirms: “Based on existing studies, most types of granite used in countertops and other aspects of home construction are not typically known to be major contributors of radiation and radon in the average home.”[2]

So while some manufacturers of artificial goods (made of chemicals) try to resort to unscrupulous and unethical business practices, natural stone lives on and will forever. Modern metroplices are built with natural stone and so was Rome and the Taj Mahal. And as they get increasingly nervous about consumers using granite and marble for their homes because today they can, they will continually try to deceive and mislead the general public. Fact is that there are hundreds of thousands of people employed in the United States and the rest of the world in quarries, factories, showrooms engaged in this trade and have been for centuries. It’s a long journey from the quarries to your countertop and this supply chain has fed many families and often generations.