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Here’s a kitchen design trend to die for.

Quartz countertops are now the most popular choice among home renovators and designers because of their durability and resistance to stains, scratches, and heat.

But that beauty comes at a deadly price: The workers who make quartz countertops are dying of lung disease at a young age, medical researchers say in a new report.

“Every day I hope that the phone rings telling me to come to the hospital to get my new lungs, former countertop maker Leobardo Segura-Meza said in a statement.

Segura-Meza, 27, started working as a stone fabricator in Los Angeles 10 years ago, cutting, grinding, and polishing countertops as a teenager.

He routinely wore protective equipment like a mask and used dust-reducing tools.

But he went to the emergency room with shortness of breath in February 2022, and a lung biopsy revealed he had advanced silicosis.

Although Segura-Meza has been approved for a lung transplant, he fears hell run out of time.

Two of his fellow countertop workers died while they were on the waiting list.

Known among coal miners as “black lung,” silicosis is a lung disease caused by inhaling very small particles of silica, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Symptoms of silicosis include persistent coughing, shortness of breath, fatigue, weight loss, and fibrosis (scarring) of the lungs.

Roughly 2.3 million US workers are exposed to silica in the workplace, including 2 million in construction and 300,000 in other industries, according to the American Lung Association.

There are treatments available, but there is no cure for silicosis, and as the disease gets progressively worse, it is often fatal.

Countertops known as “quartz” are actually made of an artificial material that includes crushed silica (quartz) with resins, dyes and glass, according to the authors of the study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

In 2021, these types of synthetic stone surfaces surpassed plastic laminate to become the most-used countertop material in the US, marking the first time in decades that laminate was not the most popular countertop material, market research shows.

Other market experts forecast that the demand for quartz countertops will grow to $13 billion by 2027 as consumers desire “uniqueness and individuality, which leads them to look for countertops that can be customized to suit their unique preferences and requirements.”

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And quartz countertops are frequently chosen on popular home renovation shows as the “go-to” countertop material for fashionable kitchen and bathroom designs.

But quartz countertops contain more than triple the silica content of natural materials like granite or marble, and the health impact of quartz countertops became apparent soon after they hit the market.

The first US case of silicosis linked to engineered stone was identified in Texas in 2015, and since that time, California has emerged as an epicenter of the disease. 

Throughout the US, an estimated 100,000 stone fabricators are at risk for silicosis associated with exposure to silica.

An Australian government screening program found a silicosis rate of 19.5% among 1,053 workers who were screened for the incurable disease.

In the latest study, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, UCLA and the California Department of Public Health found 52 California quartz countertop workers with silicosis.

Twenty of them had advanced silicosis, and 10 died before the study concluded.

Our paper raises the alarm, said Dr. Sheiphali Gandhi, a UCSF pulmonologist and co-author of the study. If we don’t stop it now, we’re going to have hundreds if not thousands of more cases. Even if we stopped it now, we’re going to be seeing these cases for the next decade because [silicosis] takes years to develop. 

The researchers called for public health officials, doctors, and policymakers to implement measures to better protect workers from exposure to silica dust, more quickly diagnose cases of the disease or even ban quartz countertops altogether.

Australia has considered banning the product but has not yet done so, instead developing regulations to help reduce the risk of silicosis through better air monitoring, training, and reporting.

In 2019 and 2020, California safety officials investigated the state’s countertop industry and found that about 72% of the 808 fabrication shops operating in the state were “likely out of compliance with the existing silica standard,” putting hundreds of workers at risk of silicosis, according to NPR.

Last month, the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion directing the countys director of public health to report within 90 days on the options to ban the sale, fabrication, and installation of silica fabricated stone in the County,” according to LAist.

Additionally, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has begun drafting emergency rules surrounding the manufacture and use of engineered quartz products.

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Elon Musk steps up attacks on Trump once again – as the president fights back

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Elon Musk steps up attacks on Trump once again - as the president fights back

Elon Musk has stepped up his attacks on Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill – weeks after a spectacular fallout between the world’s richest man and the US president.

Following weeks of relative silence after clashing with Mr Trump over his “big beautiful bill”, the billionaire vowed to unseat politicians who support it.

In a post on X, Musk said those who had campaigned on cutting spending but then backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame”.

He added: “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

Musk also threatened to put their faces on a poster which said “liar” and “voted to increase America’s debt” by $5trn (£3.6trn).

The posts attracted a swift reply from Mr Trump, who claimed the billionaire “may get more subsidy than any human being in history” for his electric car business.

“Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

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Elon’s dad on the Musk-Trump bust-up

Musk spent at least $250m (£182m) supporting Mr Trump in his presidential campaign and then led the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sacked about 120,000 federal employees.

He has argued the legislation would greatly increase the US national debt and wipe out the savings he claimed he achieved through DOGE.

As the Senate discussed the package, Musk called it “utterly insane and destructive”.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said the bill’s massive spending indicated “we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”

“Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people,” he wrote.

Read more from Sky News:
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Royal train to be scrapped with family to rely on helicopters

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Musk previously said some of his social media posts during his dramatic fallout with Mr Trump “went too far”.

He had shared a series of posts on X, including one that described Mr Trump’s tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”.

He also claimed, in a since-deleted post, that the president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

But Musk later wrote: “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”

In response, the president told the New York Post: “I thought it was very nice that he did that.”

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What’s in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’?

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What's in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'?

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Martha Kelner and Mark Stone break down what’s in Donald Trump’s huge tax and spending bill. He’s trying to sign it into law by the end of the week.

They also discuss the State Department’s decision to revoke US visas for British band Bob Vylan after their Glastonbury performance.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

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Politics

Major German bank to offer crypto trading by 2026 amid bank ‘FOMO’

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Major German bank to offer crypto trading by 2026 amid bank ‘FOMO’

Major German bank to offer crypto trading by 2026 amid bank ‘FOMO’

Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe execs once ruled out adopting crypto over concerns of volatility and risk, and the banking giant also blocked customer crypto transactions back in 2015.

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