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Quartz is used for countertops in millions of homes around the world — the manmade stone is popular for its beauty and durability. But for workers who make, cut and install quartz counters, it can be deadly. The World reported from Turkey, Spain and Australia — three stops along the quartz countertop supply chain — to learn more about silicosis, an incurable and often fatal lung disease caused by inhaling dust laden with excessive amounts of a mineral called silica.

Australia has become the first country to ban engineered stone, a popular material for kitchen and bathroom benchtops, after documenting hundreds of cases of silicosis in workers in the industry who were exposed to dust from cutting the product. Work health and safety ministers approved a ban on the use, supply, and manufacture of engineered stone on 13 December, which will come into effect in most Australian jurisdictions in July 2024. Clinicians, unions, and medical organisations, including the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Cancer Council Australia, welcomed the news....

Australia workplace ministers have agreed to implement a national ban on engineered stone, over concerns its use has led to a surge in silicosis cases among workers.

LOS ANGELES — When Wendy Solano first heard the word “silicosis,” her husband Jose Raul Garcia Leon was already suffering from the incurable disease that would kill him. After immigrating

The grinding and sanding of synthetic engineered stone exposes workers to high levels of lung-scarring silica. Experts say the health risk should have been clear long before workers began falling ill.