Skyrocketing number of Californians stricken with incurable disease tied to common kitchen item: study

New York Post ^ | Aug. 14, 2026 | Titus Wu

[nickcarraway]

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 study.

One of those victims is Enrique Gonzalez, a San Fernando Valley stone worker who has been unable to work for the past two years after developing silicosis from years of working in granite and stone manufacturing.

Gonzalez’s family says the disease has made it impossible for him to continue working as his condition has progressed, leaving the family struggling to cover medical expenses and everyday costs. The number of Californians stricken with potentially fatal silicosis — a disease caused when silica particles scar lungs and severely hamper breathing — has surged in recent years, jumping from 31 cases in 2019 to a staggering 631 as of this week, the study found.

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TOPICS: Education; Health/Medicine; Society
KEYWORDS: california; health; lungs

[nickcarraway]

Ping

[Paladin2]

Masks and respirators.

[doragsda]

A lot of granite has significant amounts of uranium in it, which gives off radon gas, a lung cancer risk.

[PeterPrinciple]

“Hundreds of workers have been sickened making quartz countertops, a product we do not need, especially when a safer alternative is available,” wrote David Michaels, co-author of the report and professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

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.

....

The stone has significantly more silica than natural materials such as granite or marble.

.....

“If artificial stone remains commercially available in California, some non-compliant shops may go underground, concentrating risk in the least regulated settings,” an analysis by California OSHA said.

California OSHA voted in May to move toward a complete halt on quartz countertops, following Australia’s ban of work on the quartz material, despite opposition from industry groups.

[FLT-bird]

uhhh yeah you’re supposed to wear respirators when cutting stone. The particles can get in your lungs and cause this. This isn’t a newsflash.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Bullshit.

This is a known issue for about two hundred years or more.

If you want to sound like an egghead, it is sometimes referred to as

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.

Yeah…use the proper gear when cutting stone and painting cars, etc.; duh!

[ChuckHam]

I did asbestos abatement in the 80s while in the USAF. Respirators and total body suits were required. If companies are letting their employees evade this requirement, they should be put out of business.

[cyclotic]

By the second or third sentence I knew this was just more fear porn.

Anyone with a brain knows that you wear a respirator when cutting stone and that this has absolutely nothing to do with your countertop.

[Carry_Okie]

Masks and respirators.
That's no panacea.

For these workers, there's no such thing as an N-95 that works.
These aren't people who can afford $1,500 for a full blown PAPR.

As to the owners, that stuff will go everywhere in the house.
Then there's the cleanup, including clothes, unless you think the kids should be breathing that stuff too.

Silicosis can show up decades later.
The status of granite isn't worth that kind of hazard.

[Ozymandias Ghost]

But, the contractor won the low bid, avoided taxes by paying their cheap labor “under the table” ...and “safety regulations??? ...We don't need no stinkin’ safety regulations!”

Thus, we put legitimate U.S. citizen stonemasons out of a job and the taxpayer will now likely end up paying for the injured workers medical treatment and his family's public assistance. Ah, but, the California elites must save a few bucks on their quartz counter tops; yard maintenance and au pairs!

[metmom]

This article makes it sound like my having a granite countertop in my kitchen is the cause of this and poses a danger to me.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

This is why I am not an early adopter. I prefer others to be guinea pigs.

Let me know what works after a 20 year history of is in the books. Then I will use a product.

Here is to all of you adventurous guinea pigs who save me from damaging my health or squandering my money on whatever is the “latest and greatest”.

[metmom]

While studying meteorology in college, the discussion turned to air pollution.

Turns out that the amount of asbestos in the outdoor air in the Adirondacks exceeds NY’s indoor air quality standards. And it’s worse when the winds come out of the north from Canada where the cliffs are loaded with it.

[Mark]

That’s a shame.

[bosco24]

I think I found the problem:

-The Golden State has tried to act by instituting emergency standards in 2023, but regulators say compliance has been very low — with 94% of recently inspected shops found in violation of the current rules.-

[AlaskaErik]

Glad I went with granite!

[IndispensableDestiny]

We have kitchen quartz countertops. They are great. The pieces were cut before delivery. A few cuts were made on site, outside on the driveway.

[FreedomForce]

Pretty good clickbait headline. Probably had millions of people wondering if they own the common kitchen item.

[fidelis]

“If artificial stone remains commercially available in California, some non-compliant shops may go underground, concentrating risk in the least regulated settings,” an analysis by California OSHA said.

When I was doing fire inspections, I ran across these frequently. Almost always, not only did they have almost no workers with breathing and eye protection (most of which were non-English speaking), but they had inadequate dust control equipment which allowed the dust to be hanging in the air and to settle over everything. They also heavily used flammable resins with, of course, next to no ventilation. Not only was it a long term health hazard, it was a dust explosion waiting to happen.