HEALTH

People Are Dying From a Disease We Thought We Left in the Past

There’s something deadly hiding in your dream kitchen

Photo by Lotus Design N Print on Unsplash

My longtime friend Jeff was anxious about remodeling the kitchen in the home he’s owned since 1986. He begged me to go with him to the design center to choose countertops, cabinets, fixtures, and a backsplash.

When the designer pushed Jeff toward gorgeous quartz countertops, I immediately hesitated. I’d read about the increasing number of craftspeople developing silicosis after cutting engineered stone.

The deaths were staggering. I encouraged Jeff to consider marble, steel, or butcher block materials instead.

The salesperson acknowledged concerns about rising silicosis deaths, but assured us the media had blown the danger out of proportion.

Had they? Of course, I decided to find out.

What I Found Was Worse Than I Expected

According to the American Lung Association, silicosis is a form of pulmonary fibrosis caused by breathing tiny particles of silica, a common mineral found in sand, quartz, and many types of rock.

Over time, those particles can scar the lungs and make it increasingly difficult to breathe.

For most of us, a countertop is simply where we make coffee, chop vegetables, or drop the mail at the end of the day. But for the craftspeople who fabricate them, the story can be very different.

Engineered stone countertops can contain extremely high levels of crystalline silica. Cutting, grinding, drilling, and polishing the slabs can release microscopic particles of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) into the air. Workers can inhale that dust deep into their lungs.

RCS is a hazard for millions of U.S. workers in different industries.

This Is Not A Theoretical Risk

The CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has warned about silicosis among workers who fabricate engineered stone countertops.

In California, researchers found that 51 percent of inspected stone fabrication shops had at least one employee exposed to respirable crystalline silica above the permissible exposure limit.

The first two U.S. deaths from silicosis among workers who fabricated engineered-stone (quartz) countertops were identified in California in 2019. There may also be silica dust risks with other types of natural stone, such as quartzite.

Suddenly, the conversation I’d had in that design center didn’t seem quite so easy to dismiss as media hype.

The information I was uncovering was very disturbing.

Quartz May Be Beautiful, But It Isn’t Quite What You Think It Is

When power tools cut, grind, or polish quartz slabs, they can release microscopic particles of respirable crystalline silica, including particles so small they can travel deep into the lungs.

Silicosis develops after breathing in respirable crystalline silica dust. For countertop workers, that exposure can happen while cutting and fabricating materials containing crystalline silica, whether the material is engineered or natural stone.

And yes, this gets a little confusing. The important thing to understand is that any stone capable of generating respirable silica dust can pose a danger.

That’s when I discovered there was another distinction I hadn’t understood before: quartz countertops and quartzite countertops are not the same thing.

Engineered Quartz Versus Nature’s Stone

Engineered quartz is manufactured in a factory, traditionally by combining roughly 90 to 95 percent crushed natural quartz with 5 to 10 percent polymer resins and pigments.

The mixture is compressed into the smooth, remarkably consistent slabs we see gleaming in kitchen showrooms.

Quartzite, on the other hand, is made by nature. It forms when quartz-rich sandstone is subjected to tremendous heat and pressure deep within the Earth.

Over time, that process transforms the sandstone into an exceptionally hard natural stone, which is eventually quarried in solid blocks and cut into slabs.

Those gorgeous quartz countertops Jeff was considering weren’t simply beautiful surfaces waiting to become part of someone’s dream kitchen. Before they ever reached that kitchen, workers would have to cut, grind, shape, and polish them.

And in the process, something as beautiful and ordinary as a countertop could release dust capable of permanently damaging the lungs of the people who made it fit.

I couldn’t stop thinking about that.

That Beautiful Countertop Has an Ugly Side

Silicosis sounds like the kind of occupational disease that belongs to another era. You might picture miners who spent decades underground or workers who inhaled dust over the course of a lifetime.

But that isn’t necessarily what is happening to countertop workers cutting quartz countertops.

Cases of silicosis associated with this industry have appeared in workers who are shockingly young. Some have developed the disease after considerably shorter periods of exposure.

Silicosis causes permanent scarring of the lungs. But once scarring has begun, stopping the exposure doesn’t magically undo the damage that has already occurred.

There Is No Cure

There is no cure for silicosis, and the lung damage that has already occurred cannot be reversed.

For some workers, breathing becomes difficult even during ordinary life activities. Some require supplemental oxygen. Some eventually become sick enough to need a lung transplant, bringing an entirely new set of medical, financial, and insurance hurdles.

Some die much earlier than they should. That was the part of this story I found hardest to reconcile with what I had seen in the showroom.

Yes, the countertops were stunning. They were also very expensive and featured as a luxury upgrade. The irony is not lost on me that the luxury part of the sales pitch never includes the person cutting it.

Somewhere between that gleaming showroom slab and the finished countertop is a worker cutting, grinding, and polishing the material while potentially breathing dust most of us will never see.

We get the polished surface. He may get scarred lungs.

And behind that worker may be a spouse, children, parents, or friends living with the consequences long after someone else’s dream kitchen is finished. That’s a pretty ugly possibility hiding behind something so beautiful.

Maybe We’ve Been Asking the Wrong Question

I cared enough to investigate what was behind those quartz countertops. Most consumers probably never think to ask.

Why would they? Nothing about a gleaming kitchen showroom suggests that choosing one countertop over another could have consequences for a worker they will never meet.

Fortunately, there are government agencies taking action to stem the tide of new silicosis cases.

Australia went much further. On July 1, 2024, a nationwide ban on the manufacture, supply, processing, and installation of engineered stone benchtops, panels, and slabs took effect, following growing concern over silicosis among workers.

And while quartz countertops are not yet completely banned in California, the state has initiated the formal rulemaking process to prohibit the fabrication and installation of engineered stone containing more than 1% crystalline silica.

Major manufacturers have also responded to the situation and have been introducing low-silica alternative options (such as products containing under 40% silica).

Industry trade groups have argued that increased enforcement of wet-cutting and safety gear is preferable to a complete product ban.

I’ll Never Look at a Countertop the Same Way Again

In the end, Jeff decided against quartz. He evaluated solid surface materials like Corian Solid Surface (acrylic and natural minerals), completely silica-free sintered stone like Lapitec, natural wood butcher block, and recycled glass composite surfaces.

He chose a lovely natural wood butcher block. And after everything I’d learned, I was relieved. I’m glad he did, but I also knew the problem was much bigger than one friend choosing a different countertop.

Most of us will never stand inside a fabrication shop. We’ll never hear the saws, see the clouds of dust, or meet the worker who cut the slab that eventually appears in our kitchen.

We just see the finished product. And maybe that’s part of the problem. We’ve gotten very good at asking whether the things we buy are beautiful, durable, affordable, sustainable, or safe for our families.

Perhaps we need to start asking one more question. Was it safe for the person who made it?

And if the answer is no, how much are we willing to let someone else pay for our dream kitchen?