silicosis

A further, lesser known risk is that of silicosis, a lung disease caused by breathing in silica dust, usually over many years.

In Los Angeles County, they have become the face of an alarming outbreak of silicosis, a deadly lung disease caused by inhaling dust loaded with crystalline silica, among young workers who cut countertops.

Long-term health effects can include lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis or silicosis.

California regulators voted Thursday to impose a permanent set of workplace rules aimed at protecting countertop cutters from silicosis, an incurable disease that has been killing young workers.

Doctors have raised alarms as young workers have been afflicted with silicosis, a deadly illness caused by inhaling particles of crystalline silica.