Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Tuesday, Oct. 14, that aims to protect artificial stone workers from silicosis, a fatal long-term lung disease caused by breathing in respirable crystalline silica (RCS), which has been increasing at an alarming rate in the San Fernando Valley.
Senate Bill (SB) 20 – or the Silicosis Training, Outreach and Prevention (STOP) Act – will enhance worker safety by banning dry cutting of stone countertops, mandating employers to submit an attestation to California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) certifying as evidence that they have adequately trained their employees, requiring the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to conduct outreach to the affected workforce and classifying silicosis from artificial stone as a serious injury or illness to boost enforcement response by Cal/OSHA.
Following the Governor’s signing, State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, author of SB 20, said in a statement, “While this bill alone will not end silicosis from stone fabrication activities, we are taking decisive steps to increase tracking, accountability and enforcement. This is the building block we will stand upon, and I am committed to … fully eradicat[ing] the disease among all Californians in the stone fabrication industry.”
Silicosis cases have been on the rise in California, with the epicenter located in the Northeast San Fernando Valley. As previously reported by the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, more than 100 of the approximate 285 fabrication facilities in Los Angeles are located in the industrial areas of the City of San Fernando, Pacoima, Sun Valley and Van Nuys.
In 2023, the LA County Department of Public Health submitted a memorandum to the Board of Supervisors claiming that “the San Fernando Valley has become ground zero for silicosis cases in Los Angeles County” due to the high volume of stone-cutting and fabrication businesses in the area.
Engineered stone was invented in Italy in the late 1970s and was first manufactured in Italy, Israel and Spain, where cases of silicosis soared in the early 2000s. It was introduced to the United States in the late 1990s, around the same time Europe discovered the stone’s deadly properties.
It quickly took over the market, becoming the most popular countertop material in the nation by 2021. In 2019, doctors started discovering rising cases of acute silicosis in the Northeast Valley.
Today, more than 60% of reported silicosis cases in California have come from the local area. The majority of these stone fabrication workers are Latino men, many of whom are undocumented. According to the 2023 study, all but one silicosis case were Latino immigrants, with 62% coming from Mexico, 27% from El Salvador and 10% from other parts of Central America.
Workers are at a high risk of contracting silicosis due to prolonged exposure to silica dust created from cutting, grinding and polishing artificial slabs. These businesses typically produce artificial stone countertops, a cheaper product that contains a much higher silica concentration – over 93% – compared to granite (50%) and natural stone (2%).
According to the LA County Department of Public Health, inhaling silica dust causes lung inflammation and scarring, which can lead to severe lung disease, difficulty breathing and death. Cal/OSHA reported that the median age at death for workers with silicosis is 46 years, with a median of 15 years working in the industry.
Silicosis can take 10 to 30 years to develop, but it can progress more rapidly if someone has greater exposure to silica dust, and most don’t seek treatment until it has progressed to later stages.
There is no effective treatment once someone has silicosis. When it is in an advanced stage, the only treatment that can be offered is a lung transplant – a highly specialized, high-risk and expensive procedure, which typically only prolongs someone’s life by an average of six years.
Even if they make it off the wait list and their body happens to accept the transplant, patients still have to take dozens of medications that cause side effects to keep the lungs from being rejected.
According to one worker, the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol previously spoke to, a 25-year-old man he has worked with needs a lung transplant.