Workers who cut the material, popular in luxury homes, report rising diagnoses of lung disease

A general interior view of a white fitted shaker style kitchen with island, wicker bar stools, glass shade ceiling lights, potted orchid and fruit bowlCredit: getty
A general interior view of a white fitted shaker style kitchen with island, wicker bar stools, glass shade ceiling lights, potted orchid and fruit bowl
Credit: getty

NEED TO KNOW

  • California regulators are expected to consider an emergency ban on manufactured stone containing more than 1% crystalline silica in October
  • Nearly 600 California countertop workers developed silicosis between 2019 and 2026, with 65 needing lung transplants, PEOPLE previously reported
  • Many workers are developing silicosis, which has no cure and can be fatal after workers inhale crystalline silica dust

California could soon become the first state to ban quartz countertops amid mounting health concerns.

California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is expected to pass a ban as an emergency regulation this October, The New York Times reported. The board initially began working on the piece of legislation in May, and it would focus on manufactured stone that contains more than 1 percent of crystalline silica.

“The Petitioner states that this action is necessary in light of the continuing epidemic of silicosis that is causing disabling disease and death among California fabrication workers as a result of their workplace exposure to silica dust from engineered stone containing crystalline silica and will open the market for safer products, which are already commercially available,” a petition from the Western Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association (WOEMA) reads.

The petition proposes that the solution to preventing these health conditions is to eliminate “hazardous products and substitution with safer and less toxic materials.”

According to a report from the California Department of Public Health published in August, nearly 600 people in California fell ill with a deadly lung disease after working for manufacturers of the quartz countertops.

Quartz countertopCredit: getty
Quartz countertop
Credit: getty

Per the report, the number of cases of silicosis has drastically increased in recent years. Between January 2019 and June 2026, health officials identified 592 cases of silicosis among quartz countertop fabrication workers. Of those cases, 65 patients required lung transplants and 31 patients died, PEOPLE previously reported.

Silicosis is a long-term lung disease caused by inhaling very tiny crystalline particles of silicon dioxide, or silica, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Exposure to silica is often work-related and typically seen in fields like construction, stonework, mining, pottery and more. Silicosis has no cure, and can be fatal.

Should the ban pass, Cal-OSHA and the California Department of Industrial Relations, which has also supported the ban, would be acknowledging that the state’s legal regulations surrounding the hazardous materials have failed to protect workers, per The Times.

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“The standards board’s decision reflects the urgent need to protect workers from a product that has proven uniquely hazardous,” Denisse Gómez, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Industrial Relations, told the outlet.

PEOPLE has reached out to Cal-OSHA.

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