SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
A lung disease has been sickening stoneworkers who make kitchen and bathroom countertops. California passed strict regulations, but doctors say they don't go far enough. KQED's Farida Jhabvala Romero reports.
FARIDA JHABVALA ROMERO, BYLINE: Lopez lives 24/7 with this sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE WHIRRING)
JHABVALA ROMERO: That's the oxygen machine that he needs to breathe. He's only 43. He asked NPR to just use his last name because he's an undocumented immigrant who fears deportation. For years, he cut a popular material called artificial stone to make countertops in the San Francisco Bay area. More than a year ago, he was diagnosed with silicosis, an often deadly lung disease.
LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
JHABVALA ROMERO: Lopez says he feels desperate sitting at home, unable to work and support his family. He's waiting on a double-lung transplant.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
JHABVALA ROMERO: His wife asked NPR not to use her name due to fears of deportation. She chokes back tears when talking about how silicosis has devastated her hardworking husband. The couple have four kids.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
JHABVALA ROMERO: In California, nearly 500 stonecutters - nearly all Latino men - have contracted an aggressive form of silicosis. Twenty-seven have died since 2019. These workers got ill from breathing dust released when slicing and shaping artificial stone, also known as engineered stone or quartz. It can generate a lot more toxic silica particles than natural stones. California approved rules two years ago requiring shops that work with this material to take steps to suppress dust. But worker advocates, state regulators and some employers say there isn't enough enforcement.
(SOUNDBITE OF SAWS RUNNING)
JHABVALA ROMERO: At United Marble & Granite in Santa Clara, these new requirements are on display. Employees hold saws and polishers that cover artificial stone slabs with water while they work. They also wear high-tech respirators that can cost more than a thousand dollars each, and a sophisticated ventilation system keeps the air clean. But Shawn DeOliveira, who co-owns the company with his parents, says few people are doing all this. He says many shop owners think it's too expensive or not feasible.
SHAWN DEOLIVEIRA: They're just going to cut dry in an open area where there's other workers around.
JHABVALA ROMERO: DeOliveira estimates that setting up a small fabrication shop that implements the state safety rules costs at least $250,000. It's cheaper to get started in the industry, he says, without complying.
DEOLIVEIRA: It's easy. You just buy a saw for $30,000. You buy maybe a couple other little pieces of equipment. Guys are just doing it.
JHABVALA ROMERO: California inspectors have found about 95% of the fabrication shops they visited didn't have the necessary protections for workers. They've ordered some to shut down. But CalOSHA staffers say they've only been able to visit roughly a tenth of the shops. That's why in December, a medical association petitioned California to ban the cutting and polishing of high-silica engineered stone. They point to Australia, the first country to prohibit the sale of the material in 2024, despite industry protests.
HAYLEY BARNES: We thought that the building industry would fall apart, so many people would lose their jobs. But none of that happened.
JHABVALA ROMERO: Dr. Hayley Barnes is a pulmonologist at the University of California in San Francisco, who treated silicosis patients in Australia.
BARNES: The companies just made a low-silica or no silica product, which is currently available in Australia and many other countries.
JHABVALA ROMERO: One key question for regulators in California is whether artificial stone can be cut safely. Large manufacturers, like U.S.-based Cambria, say yes.
REBECCA SHULT: You'll see the problem in California is not the product. It's the process.
JHABVALA ROMERO: Rebecca Shult is Cambria's general counsel and spoke at a recent public meeting with California regulators. She also recently testified in support of a federal bill that would dismiss hundreds of lawsuits that have been filed by sick workers against companies like hers. Shult said Cambria owns facilities that have been cutting engineered stones safely for more than 20 years.
SHULT: Our employees' health and safety is our No. 1 priority, and many family members and lifelong friends work in our facilities.
JHABVALA ROMERO: But doctors say that growing evidence shows that even shops that use wet cutting and exhaust ventilation can expose workers to too much dangerous silica. Governor Gavin Newsom declined to comment on a ban on working with artificial stone. Meanwhile, California's Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is discussing the possibility. For now, the head of that board, Joseph Alioto, says the state must improve enforcement.
JOSEPH ALIOTO: We currently have a regulation to do stuff. We just need to get out into the field and do it.
JHABVALA ROMERO: He wants local public health departments and district attorneys to help CalOSHA inspect hundreds more fabrication shops.
ALIOTO: We just need boots on the ground to police this. We got 4,600 workers in the state of California that need these protections.
JHABVALA ROMERO: California is not the only state with this problem. Doctors in several other states have diagnosed more stoneworkers with silicosis but say cases are underreported. For NPR News, I'm Farida Jhabvala Romero in Oakland, California. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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