Growing evidence of severe silicosis outbreaks among engineered stone workers

Engineered stone has turn out to be a preferred various to pure stone and artificial counter tops all through the U.S. Nonetheless, staff who lower, polish, and set up engineered stone counter tops have developed extreme silicosis, a progressive, irreversible, and preventable persistent lung illness brought on by inhaling crystalline silica.

A brand new editorial printed in JAMA Inside Medication discusses analysis by Fazio et al., and presents further proof of a rising epidemic of engineered stone-associated extreme silicosis in these staff.

The authors element the speedy progress in demand for engineered stone counter tops, which is predicted to overhaul all different countertop choices within the US by 2024. They notice that a number of current research have uncovered a excessive prevalence of beforehand unrecognized silicosis in at present employed engineered stone staff, indicating that efforts to lower silica mud exposures on this trade are insufficient, and likewise that many circumstances probably go undiagnosed.

The editorial highlights a number of obstacles to each diagnosing engineered stone-associated silicosis and stopping future illness.

First, a silicosis prognosis is usually missed or delayed, which can be as a result of variable medical presentation or a scarcity of clinician consciousness of occupational ailments. Secondly, there isn’t a systematic medical surveillance of engineered stone staff within the US or mandated reporting of circumstances, regardless of strict rules issued by the Occupational Security and Well being Administration that require employers to each restrict employee exposures to silica and carry out periodic medical surveillance on uncovered staff. As well as many stone fabrication staff come from susceptible populations and work in small outlets throughout the U.S.—circumstances that additional hinder efforts to regulate and monitor exposures.