Anonymous18 days ago
The quartz countertop industry is lobbying Congress to pass H.R. 5437, the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Stone Slab Products Act," which would grant manufacturers legal immunity from silicosis lawsuits and dismiss hundreds of pending cases — even as California confirms over 500 cases and 29 deaths among mostly Latino immigrant stone cutters since 2019. The bill, modeled on protections enjoyed by the gun industry, has divided Congress along partisan lines and drawn comparisons to tobacco-era liability dodges, while Australia has taken the opposite approach and banned engineered stone entirely.