On September 24, 2023 two Los Angeles Times reporters (Emily Alpert Reyes and Cindy Carcamo)broke a story which in my opinion deservers a Pulitzer Prize: California workers who cut countertops are dying of an incurable disease [Archive link]
In brief, some 15 years ago or so, countertops cut from ‘artificial’ or ‘engineered’ stone started to become very popular. The story says
Engineered stone is now estimated to represent more than 60% of materials used for countertops, the L.A. County business federation said…
The problem is that this product is very high in silica content. The dust created by cutting makes the workers very vulnerable to Silicosis, an appallingly lethal disease in which ingested fragments of silica cut the victim’s lungs to pieces. Historically, the usual victims were miners.
Thank you @jane_fazio for your invaluable work in shedding light on the perilous occupational hazard of cutting stone/granite for countertops. @UCLAPCCM @UCLAHealth @JAMAInternalMed
— Thanh Neville, MD, MSHS (@thanh_neville) October 2, 2023
California workers who cut countertops are dying of an incurable disease https://t.co/b8jnXSAKpA
However, as the LA Times’ Reyes and Carcamo note
In California, it has begun to debilitate young workers, largely Latino immigrants who cut and polish slabs of engineered stone. Instead of cropping up in people in their 60s or 70s after decades of exposure, it is now afflicting men in their 20s, 30s or 40s, said Dr. Jane Fazio, a pulmonary critical care physician who became alarmed by cases she saw at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Some California patients have died in their 30s.
“They’re young guys who essentially have a terminal diagnosis,” Fazio said.[ Link in original]
This well-documented account no doubt inadvertently reveals that this atrocity is a direct consequence of illegal immigration. It mentions
A recent study by UCLA and UCSF physicians….
This links to Silicosis Among Immigrant Engineered Stone (Quartz) Countertop Fabrication Workers in California JAMA (American Medical Association) Internal Medicine, July 24, 2023 which says
Findings In this case series of 52 patients, the median age was 45 years at diagnosis, and nearly all were Latino immigrant men. Diagnosis was delayed in 58%, with 38% presenting with advanced disease (progressive massive fibrosis), and 19% died.
Meaning In California, silicosis associated with occupational exposure to dust from engineered stone primarily occurred among young Latino immigrant men; many patients presented with severe disease, and some cases were fatal.
This young industry supplies an unusual case of jobs which Americans probably will not do. As the Reyes and Carcamo vividly describe, the choking dust, very difficult to ameliorate, creates repulsive conditions in which only desperate men would work—even without knowledge of the extreme risks.
They comment:
The San Fernando Valley is a hub for the stone “fabrication” industry…
No doubt this is because of the high incidence of illegals in southern California.
The costs of caring for the victims has of course been dumped on the California taxpayer.
Without the flooding of the country with easily-exploitable labor, this industry would probably not exist. If the workers could be adequately protected, which I doubt, the cost of doing so would have greatly curtailed or even prevented its ability to displace traditional alternatives.
Massive illegal immigration distorts America’s industrial structure. Some years ago I discussed a similar (but less horrific) example: Family Dairy Farms: Killed by Illegal Immigration. This noted that traditional family farms were being destroyed by monster industrial dairy outfits mainly in the thinly-populated Plains States. These could not have been set up without the ability to attract illegal immigrants to do the arduous work.
A side effect of this has been to delay perfectly practical mechanization which as Allan Wall reported nine years later was just beginning to appear as the Trump enforcement took effect: Automation: Robots Milking Cows In Some Dairies Now—Where Will The Illegal Aliens Go?
Now this will have been stopped by the Democrats’ No Borders Policy.
As I commented in Biden Clowns At UAW Strike While Administration Savagely Attacks Living Conditions Of American Workers
Even hardened political observers have to marvel at the cold-hearted savagery of the Democrat’s attack on Blue Collar America.
Email Patrick Cleburne.
