Study links 31 deaths, 600 illnesses to silicosis from engineered stone countertops

31 workers have died from silicosis and nearly 600 others have become ill with the progressive lung disease, many facing permanent disability and shortened lifespans.

In the fabrication shops where gleaming quartz countertops are cut and polished for American kitchens, a quiet epidemic has been claiming lives. Thirty-one workers are dead and nearly six hundred more are ill with silicosis, a progressive and incurable lung disease caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust — a hazard long understood, long preventable, and long ignored. The crisis, centered in California's stone-cutting industry and disproportionately borne by immigrant workers, asks a question that reaches beyond occupational safety: what is the true cost of the objects we choose to live with

Study links 31 deaths, 600 illnesses to silicosis from engineered stone countertops

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