California May Ban Popular Feature for High-End Kitchen Renovations

California is set to ban the production and installation of engineered quartz, a popular high-end finish used for kitchen and bathroom countertops. It would be the first state to do so.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is expected to formally propose a ban this month after releasing a discussion draft on the topic in September. The state will review it before it can go into effect.

“Due to the ongoing engineered stone silicosis crisis in California, Petition No. 609 requested that California ban the manufacturing and installation of engineered stone containing more than one percent crystalline silica,” the draft states.

The proposal follows hundreds of reports of worker illnesses and dozens of deaths from silicosis.

The process of making artificial quartz – also known as artificial or manufactured quartz, or artificial or artificial stone – involves combining crushed natural quartz stone with a plastic resin. This creates dust choked with crystalline silica particles. Workers who make the material or cut or grind the edges inhale these particles, which become trapped in the lungs and covered in scars.

This leads to silicosis, a debilitating and potentially fatal disease that causes victims to slowly asphyxiate. There is no cure; For severe cases, a lung transplant may be a treatment option.

In California, 662 cases of artificial silicosis and 35 deaths have been confirmed so far since monitoring began in 2019, according to a dashboard maintained by the California Department of Public Health. The median age at diagnosis in the state is 46 and the median age at death is 52. Among the confirmed cases, 75 underwent lung transplantation.

Manufacturers and suppliers of artificial quartz in the $28 billion industry say their products are not responsible for the increase in silicosis cases, instead pointing the finger at manufacturing shops that cut materials for installation.

Rebecca Shult, legal director of Minnesota-based Cambria USA, a major manufacturer of artificial stone, spoke before a House subcommittee in January in favor of a bill that would protect manufacturers and sellers from silicosis-related lawsuits.

Cambria has been the subject of hundreds of lawsuits alleging that slab stone products are defective, Shult said. “The problem, however,” she said, “is illegal manufacturing which suppresses companies that violate regulations and requirements.”

James Nevin is a partner at Brayton Purcell LLP, a law firm that represents about 600 silicosis victims who worked in artificial stone manufacturing in California.

He said CAL-OSHA had reached the same conclusion as its Australian counterpart, which banned the material in 2024, and other safety organizations, doctors and scientists: that artificial crystalline silica stone is so “particularly toxic” that it cannot be manufactured safely and has led to an epidemic of silicosis.

“CAL-OSHA’s ban on crystalline silica artificial stone slabs gives them great comfort knowing that their sons, cousins ​​and friends who work with them in their trade could be spared a horrible death from suffocation,” Nevin said in an email. “If only this had happened sooner, it might have spared them too. »

Current state requirements for mitigating silica dust include wet saws, which use water to weigh down the particles, HEPA vacuums and the use of powered air-purifying respirators by workers, according to an April report by the California Department of Industrial Relations which supports the ban. However, the report concludes that these measures are inadequate and that only highly sophisticated, fully enclosed systems – which are not available in California’s manufacturing industry – would be safe enough to prevent dangerous worker exposure.

The report highlights the difficulty of enforcing even current standards in a highly fragmented industry, consisting of approximately 1,342 stores statewide. It says 94% of manufacturing plants inspected since 2023 have been cited for failing to protect their workers, most of whom are Latino immigrants.

In California, 98% of artificial silicosis cases occurred in Latinos, almost all of them men, according to the state dashboard.

A 2022 article by Public Health Watch, KPCC and Univision reported at least 30 cases of silicosis among predominantly Latino workers in Los Angeles-area manufacturing plants.

“Regulating these workplaces is difficult because they are discreet and can be moved at short notice,” the article notes.

Consumers like engineered quartz because it can mimic the finish of marble and other natural stones without the upkeep and maintenance required by these materials. Of course, aspiring kitchen remodelers have many other options, including tile, laminate, butcher block, porcelain, and other solid surfaces. Critics say the aesthetic benefits of engineered quartz countertops are not worth the health risk of the people who make them.