California Moves Toward Banning ‘Quartz’ Countertops Over Deadly Disease

Manufactured stone, known as “quartz” in the interior design trade, has become a popular kitchen makeover product because of its photogenic look and often budget-friendly cost, but it has a less glamorous side-effect: silicosis, an incurable and potentially deadly lung condition. Regulators moved California on Friday toward becoming the first state to ban manufactured-stone countertops due to a growing number of deadly lung cases among those who work with it.The manufactured-stone counters originate in factories that take crushed natural quartz crystals and mix them with binding agents and pigments. Other companies and contractors then cut the slabs to meet the needs of homeowners. That cutting process can release tiny particles of crystalline silica that are easily inhaled unless workers wear specialized masks. Cases of silicosis are now skyrocketing in California, seeing significant jumps over the past five years with most of the victims being workers involved with producing the trendy, artificial stone slabs. The California Department of Public Health says there are 560 confirmed silicosis cases in the state, 31 deaths, and 58 lung transplants. There were only 52 cumulative cases in the state identified through 2022. The state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has approved a petition, signed by hundreds of health professionals, for regulators to start rewriting rules to prohibit the fabrication and installation of the engineered stone. The board will vote on approving the final rules.The current proposed ban would phase out artificial stone containing more than one percent crystalline silica. Artificial stone typically contains up to 85 to 95 percent crystalline silica, significantly higher than most natural stone, which ranges from about two percent for limestone and marble to 45 percent for granite. The particles manufactured stone releases are also smaller and more toxic than their natural counterparts.California strengthened safety standards, training requirements, and attempted to ramp up enforcement of the rules around manufactured stone two years ago, but that failed to stop the rapid rise in new cases. There are about 1,550 fabrication operations in the state with a median number of five employees per operation, according to the board, making enforcement nearly impossible to effectively carry out.Adding to the public-health worries, many of the workers in the industry are believed to be in the country illegally and thus less likely to know proper procedures or feel secure taking complaints about unsafe conditions to the authorities. A staff report presented to the commission at the hearing found that prohibiting all fabrication and installation of crystalline silica artificial stone may be the only effective way to prevent further silicosis cases and deaths.The health standards board heard hours of testimony on May 21 about how silicosis had impacted them or a member of their family. One sick worker said the disease put an “expiration date” on his life. The California Medical Association’s president, Dr. René Bravo, was among those who testified in front of the board. “Silicosis is a devastating, deadly and preventable disease,” Dr. Bravo said, adding that the rise in the disease among these workers “represents a serious and escalating occupational health emergency.”The industry faces a growing number of lawsuits. A partner at silicosis litigation firm Brayton Purcell, James Nevin, has handled asbestos and mesothelioma cases for decades. He has seen a growing number of outside law firms now seeking his help with silicosis cases.“What we are seeing in California is not theoretical—it is a real and growing public health emergency. Workers are developing severe lung disease at an alarming pace, and the regulatory system has not kept up with the danger,” Mr. Nevin said.The problem stretches far outside of California. Australia has become the first country in the world to ban artificial stone after a rapid increase in worker compensation claims for silicosis. There have been 536 claims in the past three decades, but nearly 500 of them have been filed since 2015. There are also calls to ban the engineered stone in the United Kingdom where one lung specialist said there are parallels with the asbestos crisis. “We are seeing a high number of cases of accelerated disease,” Dr. Johanna Feary told Sky News. “It’s affecting a young workforce — people in their 20s, 30s and 40s.”Yet even if California goes forward with an all-out ban, a national version appears unlikely in the United States. A House Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing in January titled “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Protecting the U.S. Stone Slab Industry from Lawfare.” A group of industry officials said they were being wrongfully targeted and offered support for a bill that would provide protection from many lawsuits.“The workplace injury lawsuits are being filed as ‘product liability’ cases, predominantly in state court in Southern California, and allege that all stone slabs are defective,” the chief legal officer of quartz surfaces manufacturer Cambria, Rebecca Shult, testified.The industry says the problem is not the stone slabs themselves but businesses that skirt regulations to gain an unfair economic advantage. It warns of a “nuclear verdict” in California courts that could financially destroy the industry.

California Moves Toward Banning ‘Quartz’ Countertops Over Deadly Disease

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