Millions of American workers are being exposed to small dust particles that infiltrate the body and leave thousands of cuts in their lungs.
Known as ‘black lung’ because of the inflammation and scarring that it causes, cases are emerging among stone and construction workers who accuse their employers of not protecting them from the incurable disease.
The disease – medically called silicosis – occurs when tiny shards of silica, found in fancy quartz and granite worktops, are breathed in and make small cuts in the lung, causing irreversible damage.
It was previously thought to be a fading concern that only affected miners who breathed in coal, but cases have emerged in recent years among workers dealing with artificial stone.
Experts call it an ’emerging issue’ and stress the ‘urgent need for clinicians and public health officials to fully address’ the matter, which isn’t receiving the attention it warrants.
Now, dozens of victims are suing stone manufacturers for failing to protect them in a growing wave of lawsuits that could upend the world of home renovation.
James Nevin, a California lawyer, told DailyMail.com he represents around 300 workers in the state who have sustained painful lung injuries as a result of doing their jobs.
One of those patients is Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez, a 34-year-old who worked on home renovations in California. He was diagnosed with silicosis in 2021 and is only alive because he underwent a double lung transplant in 2023.
Gustavo Reyes Gonzalez worked in stone fabrication shops for years where he was constantly breathing in silica dust. It permeated his lungs and caused permanent damage to his lungs. He has undergone two transplants
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But many of Mr Nevin’s clients, who are mostly in their 30s and 40s, are likely to die from their condition within 10 years.
Mr Nevin told DailyMail.com: ‘We’re finding a 92 percent prevalence rate – most fabrication workers will get silicosis… this is just the tip of the iceberg.’
An analysis from Epic Research of 129million patients, of which 3,014 were diagnosed with silicosis, found men were 6.5 times more likely to have the disease than females.
Data spanning from 2017 to 2023 also revealed non-Hispanic white patients were 41 percent more likely than Black and 34 percent more likely than Hispanic people to be diagnosed.
The statistics also showed rates of silicosis were highest in West Virginia (154 cases per 1million patients) and New Mexico (151 cases per 1million patients).
Patients, however, often face delays in diagnosis – and therefore treatment – because silicosis can be misdiagnosed.
A study published in July 2023 examined 52 stoneworkers in California diagnosed with silicosis.
Fifty-eight percent of the patients received a delayed diagnosis. Thirty percent were initially diagnosed with pneumonia and 27 percent were said to have tuberculosis.
And once diagnosed, 38 percent already had advanced disease with severely reduced breathing capacity.
In California, more than a dozen workers have died from the disease in the past five year.
Mr Gonzalez is one of scores of plaintiffs in cases alleging that stone makers and distributors covered up the risks of working with their products, but his was the first to go to trial.
His lawyers believe his case is a bellwether for more to come, with Mr Nevin adding ‘it’s the first of many hundreds if not thousands.’
Mr Gonzalez immigrated to the US from Mexico as a teenager and began working six days a week to cut slabs of quartz stone to be used in kitchens and bathrooms.
Silicosis appears on a CT scan as small white nodules scattered throughout the lungs. Scan courtesy of radiopaedia.org
Researchers warn that when quartz countertops are cut they release silica dust, which can damage people’s lungs (stock)
Even though quartz is a naturally occurring mineral – and harmless once placed – the type found in American homes is a mixture of silica.
Approximately 2.3million American workers are exposed to silica at their jobs, including 2million in construction and 300,000 in other industries, according to the American Lung Association.
Silica is a chemical compound composed of silicon and oxygen. There are two types: crystalline and amorphous.
Crystalline silica is found in sand, opal and flint, as well as granite and quartz, two popular materials for kitchen and bathroom countertops.
Amorphous silica is found in cosmetics, personal hygiene products and as food additives. The substance poses no human health harm in this form.
However, the Department of Health and Human Services has classified crystalline silica, which is small enough to be inhaled, as a known human carcinogen.
While people are exposed to silica particles in the air or products, most are not small enough to be breathed into the lungs and cause problems.
But when workers, like Mr Gonzalez, are cutting, drilling or grinding materials that contain silica, the dust particles can become small enough to permeate a face mask, be inhaled and enter the lungs where they create micro cuts.
This wreaks permanent damage to the lungs and causes shortness of breath, severe coughing, and eventually, oxygen therapy and at least one lung transplant.
Mr Gonzalez noticed his symptoms worsen in 2020, having worked in the industry for over a decade. It would take about a year to learn the true nature of his diagnosis.
Mr Gonzalez testified he would often work in a fog of dust that made his mask filthy. The manufacturers never warned him or his coworkers that working with the artificial stone could cause irreversible health damages
He told Business of Home: ‘[The pulmonologist] told me I had silicosis. I asked him what that was, and he told me, “You’re sick because of your work, because you’ve been breathing in silica.”
‘I asked him, “What are we going to do? Is there any treatment?” and he said, “There’s nothing we can do for you, because there is no cure for this disease.”
Mr Gonzalez, however, had to keep working to make a living. He said: ‘I decided to keep working because I needed to save some money for what was coming. Actually, what I was doing was saving money for my funeral.’
The worker was awarded at least $8million in his lawsuit – and possibly more depending on what a judge decides within the next month
Mr Gonzalez survived only because he was able to receive two lung transplants in February 2023 – and he will likely need another in 10 years.
His case, and that of dozens of other workers, is likely to have a profound impact on the home renovation industry as demand for materials with lower silica content will likely increase.
Safety protocols for stone manufacturers will likely become more stringent as well, calling for more dust control and ventilation systems and more personal protective equipment.
While the stone manufacturers maintain they are not at fault, Mr Gonzalez holds them responsible for concealing the dangers of their products: ‘They make the material. They know the contents of the material. They know what products are in the material.
‘They should warn [us of] that, and they didn’t inform us anything about that.’
