Congress and Corporate Liability

NPR reports that a fast‑growing epidemic of silicosis among kitchen and bathroom countertop workers has put regulators and lawmakers on a collision course over how to respond. In California, workplace‑safety officials will hold a hearing Thursday on a proposed ban on cutting engineered quartz countertops, which generate far more lung‑scarring silica dust than granite or marble and have sickened nearly 500 workers in the state since 2019, leading to more than 50 lung transplants and at least 27 deaths—mostly Hispanic men in their 30s and 40s. At the same time in Washington, Republicans on a House Judiciary subcommittee used a Wednesday hearing to promote a bill that would bar these workers from suing companies that manufacture and sell the raw engineered‑stone slabs, legislation backed by Cambria, the leading U.S. quartz‑slab maker now facing about 400 lawsuits. Cambria’s chief legal officer argued that the product can be fabricated safely with proper controls and blamed "American sweatshops" that cut slabs without protections, while worker‑safety advocates and former OSHA director David Michaels countered that manufacturers are trying to evade responsibility for a deadly product rather than protect downstream fabricators. The fight highlights a broader national reckoning over occupational disease in low‑wage immigrant workforces and whether Congress will side with injured workers or an industry that profits from a material some public‑health officials say "cannot be fabricated safely."