Australia was the first in the world to ban artificial stone countertops
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Australia has announced a complete ban on the use of artificial stone for the production of countertops for kitchens and bathrooms. This cheap alternative to marble and granite contains crystalline silica, which causes a fatal disease.
As The Guardian reports, there has been a multi-year campaign in Australia to demand a ban on this artificial material.
Doctors, trade unions and workers noted that cases of silicosis had increased among people involved in cutting and transporting it. This is a progressive disease in which there is an irreversible compaction of the connective tissue of the lungs and limitation of their functions.
The Australian Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the problem and noted in its report that stone masons develop silicosis at a “disproportionate” rate compared to workers in other industries. The age of most of the sick did not exceed 35 years.
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According to Liam O’Brien, assistant secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the decision to ban artificial stone shows that Australia has learned its lesson from asbestos, which took decades to ban.
“Australia has a pretty terrible legacy with asbestos and we know very well what happens if we don’t act early. We still have high death rates from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.” – he said.
One of the masons who contracted silicosis is Kyle Goodwin from Queensland. In 2018, he was diagnosed with the most severe form of the disease. The man did not know that the dust that fills the air in his workshop contains crystalline silica, which causes a fatal disease.
“The rest of the world can’t just turn a blind eye and pretend they don’t know these kitchen counters are killing people. We need to act before it’s too late.” he says.
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| Photo: dbvirago/Depositphotos |
In the largest US study of artificial stone, silicosis has claimed the lives of several masons, mostly young Hispanics, in California.
According to Sheifali Gandhi, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, the study is the “tip of the iceberg” of the problem in the United States.
“Our most optimistic estimate, based on data from the US and Australia, is that 15 to 20% of people working in this industry have silicosis or a predisposition to the disease,” – says the scientist.
The UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) considers silicate dust to be “the second most harmful building material after asbestos”.
As a reminder, a chatbot about lung cancer was launched in Ukraine.
Read also: Lung cancer in Ukraine takes no fewer lives than COVID-19
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