Anatomy of an investigation:
‘sweat and blood and … even death’
Two years ago, Public Health Watch’s editor-in-chief got a tip about an unpublicized silicosis epidemic among immigrant workers in the LA area. Having written about this fatal lung disease before, he quickly grasped what a huge story this was.
The workers are Latino men, many of them young, who cut and grind artificial-stone kitchen countertop slabs in small shops. The slabs – in essence, quartz chunks glued together and fabricated to look like natural stone – are loaded with silica, a mineral that is sent airborne as a fine powder and accumulates in the lungs.
The victims slowly suffocate.
Our editor-in-chief went to LA to meet some of the sick workers and the doctor who was treating them. He teamed up with a bilingual reporter for Southern California Public Radio and shared information with a second PHW media partner, Univision.
October 2022
One of the most heart-wrenching interviews we did was with worker Juan Gonzalez, then 36, who was in the late stages of silicosis and was hoping to get a lung transplant.
Juan had a condition called progressive massive fibrosis.
Here’s what it looks like on a CT scan.
Healthy lungs should appear black in the image.
When lungs appear white like this, it means they’re full of silica dust.
The three partners’ stories came out online, on the radio and on national TV the first weekend of December 2022.
Fifty-two cases of silicosis had been documented in California by that time.
December 2 and 4, 2022
Some Spanish-speaking workers sought medical care after seeing the nine-minute Univision segment, meaning our work almost certainly saved lives.
Within months, things were happening. We learned the state of California was drafting an emergency workplace rule to try to quell the crisis. LA County took the first steps toward a countywide ban on artificial-stone products.
By the end of July 2023, there were 77 cases of silicosis statewide.
May-July 2023
September 2023
Our reporting on the epidemic earned us the prestigious Barlett and Steele Gold Award for investigative business reporting from Arizona State University.
October 2023
December 2023
By the end of 2023, the number of confirmed silicosis cases in California had reached 100.
The state issued its emergency rule, which required employers to control dust and take other safety measures. California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, began inspecting the state’s 800-plus fabrication shops; six months later, it had gotten to 39 of them and issued 13 “orders prohibiting use” to address imminent silica hazards.
By early 2024, other national and local media outlets were on to the story.
February-May 2024
At last count, the official number of silicosis cases in California was 141. These are, in effect, death sentences, though some victims’ lives can be prolonged with lung transplants.
Reported silicosis cases, CA
The toll is sure to keep rising as U.S. consumers continue to embrace fake-stone countertops. Australia, in contrast, has imposed a ban on these products, beginning this month.
All of this started two years ago, when a small but relentless nonprofit news outlet you may never have heard of broke one of the biggest occupational health stories in recent memory.
We’ll stay on it.
Design: Isabel Simpson
Illustrations: Andrew Morris
Text: Jim Morris
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