Jul 25, 2023 12:29 AM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/996275
INTRO: Workers making artificial-stone slabs for the most popular type of countertops sold in the United States are developing a potentially deadly, irreversible lung disease from tiny particles of toxic dust, researchers from UC San Francisco and UCLA found in the largest U.S. study of this emerging health crisis.
When the synthetic quartz is cut, ground and polished, lung-damaging dust is released into the air, leading to a disease called silicosis. The disease has plagued miners and cutters of natural stone for centuries, but the engineered stone is far more dangerous due to its high concentration of silica, a natural product in sandstone, and the harmful polymer resins and dyes that are added to the engineered product.
This growing occupational hazard has been sickening and claiming the lives of workers, predominantly young Latino men, at an alarming rate since the first U.S. silicosis case due to engineered stone was reported in 2015, according to the study published in the July 24, 2023, edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.
“Increasing case counts of silicosis among stone fabricators over the last 10 years and accelerated progression of disease transforms the paradigm of an all-but-previously-forgotten disease in the U.S.,” said Jane Fazio, MD, a pulmonary specialist at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and co-author of the study. “Our study demonstrates severe morbidity and mortality among a particularly vulnerable group of young underinsured and likely undocumented Latino immigrant workers.” (MORE - details)
INTRO: Workers making artificial-stone slabs for the most popular type of countertops sold in the United States are developing a potentially deadly, irreversible lung disease from tiny particles of toxic dust, researchers from UC San Francisco and UCLA found in the largest U.S. study of this emerging health crisis.
When the synthetic quartz is cut, ground and polished, lung-damaging dust is released into the air, leading to a disease called silicosis. The disease has plagued miners and cutters of natural stone for centuries, but the engineered stone is far more dangerous due to its high concentration of silica, a natural product in sandstone, and the harmful polymer resins and dyes that are added to the engineered product.
This growing occupational hazard has been sickening and claiming the lives of workers, predominantly young Latino men, at an alarming rate since the first U.S. silicosis case due to engineered stone was reported in 2015, according to the study published in the July 24, 2023, edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.
“Increasing case counts of silicosis among stone fabricators over the last 10 years and accelerated progression of disease transforms the paradigm of an all-but-previously-forgotten disease in the U.S.,” said Jane Fazio, MD, a pulmonary specialist at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and co-author of the study. “Our study demonstrates severe morbidity and mortality among a particularly vulnerable group of young underinsured and likely undocumented Latino immigrant workers.” (MORE - details)