The Toxic Sandbox: The Truth About Environmental Toxins and Our Children’s Health
Mercury. Lead. Pesticides. Plastics. Air pollution. PCBs. How can parents sort through the hype, propaganda, and misinformation — and find out what is and isn’t a threat to children’s health? Investigative journalist, advocate, and concerned parent Libby McDonald separates the facts from the alarmist myths.
Silica Dust and Silicosis Resources
We’ve compiled this list of resources to inform you about the hazards of silica dust. Check out our Guide to Safe Sand for more information about sand safety!
Government Resources
- Proposition 65, Chemicals Considered or Listed: Crystalline Silica
- Center for Disease Control (CDC): Silica, It’s Not Just Dust
Silica is found in many rocks, sand, and construction materials. Silica dust is produced while drilling these materials. You can get a lung disease called silicosis by breathing very small silica particles into your lungs. […] Silicosis damages your lungs and makes it hard to breathe, increases your risk of lung infections, and may lead to heart failure. Silica may also cause cancer. Silicosis Can Be Prevented But Not Cured.
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH): Crystalline Silica
Silicosis, an irreversible but preventable lung disease, is caused by inhalation of respirable silica dust. Work exposures to silica dust also cause other serious diseases, including lung cancer.
- Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard
Workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust are at increased risk of developing serious silica-related diseases. OSHA’s standard requires employers to take steps to protect workers from exposure to respirable crystalline silica.
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Health Effects of Inhaled Crystalline and Amorphous Silica
Crystalline silica is widely used in industry and has long been recognized as a major occupational hazard, causing disability and deaths among workers in several industries. This is a health risk assessment covering the causes and studies of crystalline silica exposure.
- American Lung Association: Learn About Silicosis
Silicosis is an interstitial lung disease caused by breathing in tiny bits of silica, a common mineral found in many types of rock and soil. Over time, exposure to silica particles causes permanent lung scarring, called pulmonary fibrosis.
- National Institute of Health (NIH), Non-Occupational Exposure to Silica Dust
Non-occupational exposure to silica dust can be from industrial sources in the vicinity of the industry as well as non-industrial sources. Recently, public concern regarding non-occupational or ambient exposure to crystalline silica has emerged making it important to gather information available on non-occupational exposures to silica dust and non-occupational silicosis.
Media Resources
- Wall Street Journal, Black Lung Disease Makes Comeback
The prevalence of severe black lung disease among coal miners in Central Appalachia has hit levels not seen since coal dust was first regulated in mines about 40 years ago, according to federal researchers.
- Wall Street Journal, Silicosis Suits Rise Like Dust
An old workplace danger is spawning a surge in new lawsuits charging that thousands of workers have developed silicosis, a lung disease caused by inhaling quartz dust.
- Wall Street Journal, Obama Administration Issues Rule to Limit Exposure to Silica Dust
The Obama administration issued a long-awaited regulation Thursday to lower workers’ exposure to a potentially deadly dust commonly found in construction and manufacturing materials, completing a decadeslong effort that is likely to become one of the administration’s signature workplace health and safety initiatives.
- NBC News, Trump Administration Stalls Key Obama Rule on Worker Safety
The Trump administration is slow-walking enforcement of a major Obama-era regulation to strengthen protections for construction workers against a type of dust that has been linked to cancer and lung disease.
- Reuters, Left in the Dust: The political tussle over a workplace safety rule
In the waning days of his presidency, Barack Obama pushed a measure to limit workplace exposure to beryllium. After Donald Trump gained the White House, the GOP moved to strip key portions of the rule – saying it burdened businesses with little benefit to laborers. An inside look at the political battle.
- ABC: Silicosis death dust audit reveals ‘major epidemic worse than asbestos’
An audit of Queensland’s manufacturing stone industry has revealed 98 workers have contracted the potentially deadly lung disease silicosis — 15 of those terminal — with more than 550 workplace breaches in what health experts are calling a major epidemic.
- New York Times, Black Lung Disease Comes Storming Back
More than 400 coal miners frequenting three clinics in southwestern Virginia between 2013 and 2017 were found to have complicated black lung disease, an extreme form characterized by dense masses of scar tissue in the lungs.