It's never good news when an "old disease" begins to reemerge, and physicians are sounding the alarm over a common building material that has gravely sickened hundreds of young tradespeople, KFF Health News reported.
What's happening?
César Manuel González is a 37-year-old stone worker in California, and although he's never worked a day in the mines, he started having difficulty breathing.
Ultimately, González was diagnosed with silicosis, a distinct form of pulmonary fibrosis, or severe lung scarring.
Silicosis is a condition that once "was synonymous with mining disasters," the CBS News article noted, one addressed by dust safety protocols in the 1930s.
In the 2010s, engineered stone (quartz) countertops grew in popularity as a more affordable alternative to natural stone. However, the fabrication process releases significant amounts of crystalline silica, which can cause silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer, per the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
González worked as a countertop fabricator, generating dust and particles as he cut and polished stone and manufactured materials into glossy kitchen surfaces. The work seemed benign, but his story was unfortunately not a one-off.
On Friday, Capital & Main profiled another silicosis case, identifying the man only as "Oscar" to conceal his identity. Oscar was diagnosed with silicosis in 2022 and cried when a doctor told him he could never work again.
KFF Health News also spoke with Gustavo Reyes, 36.
All three men required a double lung transplant to survive.
Why is this concerning?
According to KFF, neither engineered stone nor silicosis cases associated with it were new phenomena.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 In 1997, a cluster of similar cases emerged in Israel, affecting primarily young male countertop fabricators. When the link was observed in Australia a little over a decade later, authorities ultimately determined that "fabrication of high-silica engineered stone posed unacceptable risk."
KFF cited nearly 400 lawsuits concerning stone workers and silicosis, alleging that the material simply "cannot be fabricated safely."
Experts in medicine and occupational safety appeared to agree, including former OSHA head Dr. David Michaels, who challenged manufacturers' claims that lax workplace safety protocols were to blame rather than the material.
"This is comparable to the tobacco industry saying cigarettes are safe," Michaels observed, per KFF.
The outlet reported 519 documented silicosis cases in California since 2019, with 29 fatalities. The median age of diagnosis was 46; the median age of silicosis-related mortality was just 49.
Dr. Robert Harrison was among the doctors who identified the first silicosis cluster in 2019.
According to KFF, he called it "the largest outbreak of silicosis in decades" and a "recognizable occupational epidemic once work histories were examined."
What's being done about it?
Frustratingly, the outlet indicated that California Rep. Tom McClintock proposed legislation to shield countertop manufacturers from civil liability as cases mounted.
Australia prohibited "the manufacture, supply, and installation" of engineered stone in 2024, and California strengthened regulations in 2025.
Harrison said nothing short of a ban on the material was sufficient to protect workers.
"It'll be a very effective tool in starting to end this epidemic," he told Capital & Main.
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