5 Facts About Silicosis Threatening Latino Workers in California

Cutting, polishing, sanding, or drilling quartz countertops has become a deadly risk in California. Exposure to silica dust causes silicosis, a progressive and irreversible lung disease. The impact falls overwhelmingly on Latino workers.

Here are five facts that explain the magnitude of this labor crisis and why it should matter to you, even if you’ve never set foot in a stone workshop.

1. 98% of cases strike Latino men

According to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), nearly all workers diagnosed with silicosis from artificial stone are Latino men. The figure hovers around 98%, confirmed by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) in May 2026.

Many of them accumulated between nine and fifteen years cutting quartz before diagnosis. The DIR added a troubling fact: the average age of those who died from this disease was under 50 years old.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had already warned that these workers, mostly Hispanic immigrants, face fewer job options and fear retaliation if they report unsafe conditions.

2. The numbers keep growing

In 2019, California detected only 13 cases linked to artificial stone. By August 2026, a study published in NEJM Evidence, led by CDPH researchers, confirmed 592 cases, with 31 deaths and 65 lung transplants.

The CDPH itself warns that these figures are still partial, because medical reports continue to arrive. The real number is likely higher.

Many workers left the sector without knowing they were already ill. This underreporting is a particular concern for researchers following the case.

3. Silicosis has no cure and can kill in a few years

The disease appears when a person breathes tiny particles of crystalline silica. Those particles lodge in the lungs and generate permanent scars. There is no treatment that reverses them.

Traditionally, silicosis took a decade or more to manifest. But intense exposure to artificial stone produces accelerated forms, sickening relatively young workers.

Symptoms include shortness of breath, cough, fatigue, and chest pain. The problem is that many feel nothing until the damage is already considerable.

4. Artificial quartz is more dangerous than natural stone

What is sold as «quartz» is usually artificial stone, made from minerals and resins. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) noted in January 2026 that this material contains more than 90% respirable crystalline silica.

That proportion far exceeds that of many natural stones. When a tool cuts or polishes those slabs, it releases particles small enough to reach the lungs.

A CDPH inspection, cited by NIOSH, found that 51% of stone manufacturing shops had at least one employee exposed to silica levels above the permitted limit.

Silica not only causes silicosis. NIOSH and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also link it to lung cancer, kidney disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

5. California evaluates banning artificial stone with more silica

In May 2026, California’s Occupational Health and Safety Standards Board voted unanimously to begin the process of evaluating a historic ban. The measure would aim to block the manufacturing and installation of artificial stone with more than 1% crystalline silica.

The decision is not yet an active ban. What was approved was asking Cal/OSHA to move forward with the regulatory process, with support from scientific and technical committees.

In parallel, the state Legislature also moved. Senate Bill SB 20, promoted by Senator Caroline Menjívar, seeks training and prevention in response to the rise in cases. The legislator described the San Fernando Valley as «the epicenter» of this crisis.

Since 2025, moreover, silicosis is a mandatory reportable disease in California. This should help authorities better measure a problem that, according to their own recognition, goes beyond official figures.

What to do if you worked cutting quartz

If you work or worked manufacturing or installing countertops, tell your doctor what materials you handled. It’s not enough to say you work in construction.

Specifically explain whether you cut, sanded, drilled, or polished quartz or artificial stone. Under OSHA standards, workers with sufficient exposure have the right to medical surveillance, including chest X-rays and lung function tests.

Stopping stone cutting prevents new exposures, but does not reverse damage already done. That’s why early detection remains the best tool available.

California became one of the main hotspots for this disease in the United States, though the problem is also documented in other states and countries. What sets the state apart is the clarity with which its own data shows who pays the human cost: Latino workers who, for years, were simply doing their job.