Indian-origin firms drawn into US debate on silicosis and stone slabs

A US congressional hearing highlighted sharp divisions over worker safety and liability in the stone slab industry, as experts warned of rising silicosis cases while industry representatives urged legal protection for manufacturers and distributors amid mounting lawsuits.

Washington: Jan 20 (IANS) A sharp debate over worker safety, corporate liability and the future of the US stone slab industry unfolded in Congress last week, drawing in Indian-origin entrepreneurs and raising issues that resonate with Indian businesses and workers operating across global supply chains.

Testifying before a House Judiciary subcommittee, former US occupational safety chief David Michaels warned lawmakers that proposed legislation to shield artificial stone manufacturers and distributors from lawsuits would worsen what he described as a growing silicosis epidemic among countertop fabrication workers.

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“Silicosis is a devastating, deadly, and thoroughly preventable disease,” Michaels said, adding that artificial stone fabrication was “one of the most hazardous of all the industries where workers are exposed to silica dust.”

Michaels told the panel that hundreds of workers in the United States had already been sickened, with dozens dead, after exposure to silica released while cutting and polishing artificial stone used in kitchen countertops.

Citing California health data, he said nearly 500 cases had been identified in that state alone, with 27 deaths and dozens of lung transplants. “Unless something is done to stop exposure, the number of cases, and the number of deaths, will continue to increase,” he said.

He strongly opposed H.R. 5437, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Stone Slab Products Act, arguing that lawsuits play a critical role in forcing industries to move to safer substitutes.

Michaels pointed to Australia, which banned high-silica engineered stone rather than restricting litigation, prompting manufacturers to shift to safer alternatives without job losses. “There are safe substitutes that can make equally fashionable countertops,” he said, adding that shifting to substitutes would result in “no loss of American jobs.”

Offering a contrasting view, Gary Talwar, vice president of Natural Stone Resources, an Indian-origin family business based in California, urged Congress to pass the bill. Talwar told lawmakers his parents immigrated legally from India in 1980 and built their enterprise from the ground up, describing it as a story rooted in the American Dream.

“Silicosis is a serious and absolutely preventable disease,” Talwar said, but argued that responsibility lies with unsafe fabrication shops rather than distributors like his firm, which does not cut, grind or polish stone. “We do not control whether a shop uses wet cutting, ventilation, or PPE,” he said, adding that distributors were increasingly being named in dozens of lawsuits for practices they did not oversee.

Talwar said mounting legal costs were placing enormous strain on small, often family-run businesses across the country. He told lawmakers that some firms had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending themselves and were being forced to choose between litigation and running their operations. “Some are seriously considering shutting their doors,” he said.

Jim Hieb, chief executive of the Natural Stone Institute, echoed those concerns, saying his trade group supported worker safety but opposed what he described as misdirected litigation against companies that sell stone slabs. “Selling stone slabs does not cause silicosis,” Hieb said. “It is the disregard for safety compliance when cutting and fabricating stone slabs that creates the risk.”

Rebecca Shult, chief legal officer of Cambria, a Minnesota-based quartz manufacturer, said her company supported the legislation to protect American manufacturing jobs and domestic producers.

Silicosis is caused by inhaling fine silica particles. It has long been a concern in mining, stone cutting, and construction, where regulators have struggled to curb occupational exposure. In the United States, the debate now centers on whether Congress should intervene to limit civil liability or rely on workplace enforcement and market shifts toward safer materials to prevent further disease and deaths.