Researchers from UCSF and UCLA teamed up with the UCSF California Labor Laboratory and the California Department of Public Health to identify 52 California engineered-stone employees diagnosed with silicosis, 51 of whom were Latino immigrants. Twenty of the clients had advanced illness at medical diagnosis, and have 10 died. 2 fellow stone workers passed away while on the waiting list. “Every day I hope that the phone rings informing me to come to the hospital to get my new lungs,” stated Segura-Meza, who was hospitalized last month with a collapsed lung.
” Our paper raises the alarm,” stated Sheiphali Gandhi, a UCSF pulmonologist and co-author of the research study.
Employees crafting synthetic stone slabs for counter tops in the U.S. are contracting a deadly lung illness, silicosis, due to hazardous dust exposure, a study by UC San Francisco and UCLA exposes. The heightened risk, originating from high silica concentration in crafted stone, has actually specifically impacted young Latino immigrants, causing extreme health concerns and deaths because the first reported case in 2015.
Scientists from UC San Francisco and UCLA have actually found that employees who produce synthetic stone slabs for the most popular kind of counter tops sold in the United States are establishing a potentially lethal, irreparable lung illness from small particles of poisonous dust. This research is the biggest U.S. study of this emerging health crisis.
When the artificial quartz is cut, ground, and polished, lung-damaging dust is launched into the air, causing an illness called silicosis. The illness has actually pestered miners and cutters of natural stone for centuries, however the engineered stone is much more unsafe due to its high concentration of silica, a natural product in sandstone, and the damaging polymer resins and dyes that are contributed to the engineered item.
This growing occupational risk has been sickening and declaring the lives of employees, mainly young Latino males, at an alarming rate since the very first U.S. silicosis case due to engineered stone was reported in 2015, according to the research study recently released in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
” Increasing case counts of silicosis among stone producers over the last 10 years and accelerated development of illness changes the paradigm of an all-but-previously-forgotten disease in the U.S.,” said Jane Fazio, MD, a lung professional at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and co-author of the research study.” Our study demonstrates extreme morbidity and mortality among a particularly vulnerable group of young underinsured and most likely undocumented Latino immigrant employees.”
The human expense of crafted quartz
The threat of silicosis from synthetic stone was initially recognized in Israel in 2012. Given that the first U.S. case of silicosis linked to engineered stone was recognized in Texas in 2015, California has actually ended up being a center of the disease.
Scientists from UCSF and UCLA worked together with the UCSF California Labor Laboratory and the California Department of Public Health to determine 52 California engineered-stone workers identified with silicosis, 51 of whom were Latino immigrants. Twenty of the patients had actually advanced illness at diagnosis, and have 10 passed away.
Among them is Leobardo Segura-Meza, who was born in Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. in 2012. He found employment in Los Angeles as a stone worker 10 years earlier, grinding and cutting at the age of 17.
Despite taking health precautions by wearing a mask and using dust-reducing tools, Segura-Meza went to the emergency clinic with shortness of breath in February 2022, and a lung biopsy exposed he had silicosis. The 27-year-old has been on an oxygen tank ever since and can no longer economically support his wife and three children.
While Segura-Meza has actually been authorized for a lung transplant, he fears hell run out of time. Two fellow stone workers passed away while on the waiting list. “Every day I hope that the phone rings telling me to come to the medical facility to get my brand-new lungs,” said Segura-Meza, who was hospitalized last month with a collapsed lung.
Requiring change to stop killer stone
The studys authors required public health clinicians, authorities, and policymakers to implement measures to better safeguard employees from exposure to silica dust, faster detect the illness, and even prohibit the product.
” Our paper raises the alarm,” stated Sheiphali Gandhi, a UCSF pulmonologist and co-author of the research study.” If we do not stop it now, were going to have hundreds if not thousands of more cases. Even if we stopped it now, were going to be seeing these cases for the next decade since it takes years to establish.”
No country has yet banned the item, but Australia has actually considered it and is developing new policies to help minimize the threat of silicosis through such requirements as much better air monitoring, training, and reporting. In California, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is weighing a possible restriction, and the states Division of Occupational Safety and Health, called Cal/OSHA, has actually begun preparing emergency guidelines.
The research studys authors likewise required early medical diagnosis and decreasing more exposure, both of which are challenging due to the lack of healthcare access and the requirement for employees to support their families. Of the patients in the research study, 45% continued working after their diagnosis.
Referral: “Silicosis Among Immigrant Engineered Stone (Quartz) Countertop Fabrication Workers in California” by Jane C. Fazio, Sheiphali A. Gandhi, Jennifer Flattery, Amy Heinzerling, Nader Kamangar, Nawal Afif, Kristin J. Cummings and Robert J. Harrison, 24 July 2023, JAMA Internal Medicine.DOI: 10.1001/ jamainternmed.2023.3295.
The research study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Healths National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the NIHs National Cancer Institute.
