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Skyrocketing number of Californians stricken with incurable disease tied to common kitchen item: study - Yahoo
Technology and ScienceBy Titus Wu8/14/20261 min read
Nearly all of the victims have been men, with about half of them in Los Angeles County, the report said. Their median age is 52.
✨ Key Highlights
- A new California state study found silicosis cases have surged dramatically, rising from 31 in 2019 to 631 as of this week, with the incurable lung disease linked to workers cutting engineered quartz countertops.
- Silicosis develops when silica particles scar the lungs and severely impair breathing, and it is caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust generated when fabricating and installing engineered stone.
- Over roughly the past eight years, 31 people have died from the disease and 65 have required lung transplants, according to researchers who analyzed data between 2019 and 2026.
- Nearly all victims are men, with a median age of 52, and about half of the cases are concentrated in Los Angeles County.
- Enrique Gonzalez, a San Fernando Valley stone worker, has been unable to work for two years after developing silicosis from years in granite and stone manufacturing, leaving his family struggling with medical and living costs and turning to a GoFundMe for support.
- Report co-author David Michaels, a professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, argued that hundreds of workers have been sickened making quartz countertops, a product he called unnecessary given that safer alternatives exist.
A skyrocketing number of California residents have developed an incurable lung disease linked to kitchen quartz countertops with many needing lung transplants, according to a terrifying new state stu