‘Silicosis’ Category

As American manufacturing industries expand, so does the workforce that enables productive labor and outcome. For over a decade, the engineered stone industry has done just that by fulfilling consumers’ widespread demand for “quartz” countertops. While the artificial stone makes for durable kitchen and bathroom surfaces, the cutting and polishing process it goes through puts workers at...

Despite the safety and health regulations that are seemingly assured to manual labor workers in the countertop fabrication industry, there is an obvious disconnect between company claims of protection, and the serious fatal diseases contracted by workers as a result of minimal action taken to verify those claims. This reality is especially true to individuals who have developed silicosis due...

Masons and other stone workers are suddenly falling ill across the Southwest with silicosis and severe respiratory diseases. The dust created by their work contains silica, and it’s making them sick. The artificial or engineered stone used to make countertops has been identified as a key source of the deadly mineral.

Lung Damage and Deaths Among Makers of Popular Kitchen...