California Set to Become First State to Ban Quartz Countertops Over Deadly Silica Dust Health Risks
California is expected to become the first state to ban quartz countertops this October, as silicosis has sickened 592 fabrication workers since 2019, causing 31 deaths, and regulators cite urgent worker safety concerns
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A popular kitchen staple may soon be off the market in California. The state is poised to become the first in the nation to ban quartz countertops, as health concerns tied to the material continue to grow.
California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is expected to approve the ban as an emergency regulation this October, according to The New York Times. The board began work on the measure in May. It would target manufactured stone containing more than 1 percent crystalline silica.
The push comes from a petition filed by the Western Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association (WOEMA). “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,” the petition reads.
Its proposed fix is to eliminate “hazardous products and substitution with safer and less toxic materials.”
The numbers behind the proposal are stark. A California Department of Public Health report published in August found that nearly 600 Californians developed a deadly lung disease after working for quartz countertop manufacturers. Health officials identified 592 silicosis cases among fabrication workers between January 2019 and June 2026, a sharp rise in recent years. Of those patients, 65 needed lung transplants and 31 have died, People reported.
Silicosis is a long-term lung condition that develops when a person breathes in very small crystalline particles of silicon dioxide, known as silica, the Cleveland Clinic explains. It is most often linked to the workplace, particularly in construction, stonework, mining, pottery and similar trades. There is no cure, and the disease can be fatal.
Approval of the ban would also carry weight beyond the countertop industry. Per The Times, Cal-OSHA and the California Department of Industrial Relations, which has also backed the measure, would effectively be acknowledging that the state’s existing rules around these hazardous materials failed to keep workers safe.
“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.