Public health experts in California are pushing to ban engineered quartz in an effort to protect countertop fabrication workers from a growing epidemic of a deadly lung disease, but Republicans in Congress are trying to protect the industry with a bill that would ban lawsuits against manufacturers.
Silicosis cases are rapidly rising among workers who cut, grind and polish engineered stone for kitchen and bathroom countertops. This incurable lung disease develops when workers breathe in crystalline silica dust, which scars and constricts their lungs. In extreme cases, only a lung transplant, an intensive and risky procedure, can prolong their lives. In California alone, engineered stone-related silicosis has killed at least 29 people and sickened more than 500.
