New Delhi: The artificial stone countertop producing industry, which witnessed exponential growth in different states including Odisha in the last three years, has posed a grave health threat to its labour force in the absence of regulated norms.
After the United States announced an almost 300% anti-dumping tariff on Chinese made artificial stone countertops in 2018, Indian companies expanded production to meet the rising global demand. The US market, which is the largest importer of these products from India, saw its demand doubling between 2009 and 2019.
Exports of artificial stones from India to the US increased by 550% between 2015 and 2020 when exports from China came down by 99%. India is now the third-largest supplier to the US market. But the boom in the industry had a life-threatening impact on the labour force, which has been put at risk from deadly silica dust.
In order to know the health risk posed by these industries, Jeevan Rekha Parishad (JRP), an Odisha-based NGO in partnership with Occupational Knowledge International (OKI), a US-based NGO, conducted a pilot study in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The study revealed that the health risks of manufacturing and installing these products are very high as their silica content is approximately 90 per cent compared to 3 per cent in natural marble.
These countertops are produced by combining pure quartz with binders including the carcinogen styrene under a vacuum. Quartz is the most common form of silica which is linked to silicosis, bronchitis, emphysema, renal disease, immune system disorders and Tuberculosis (TB). Workers in this industry have a very high mortality rate as these diseases neither have cure nor treatment to reverse the health condition.
According to Dr Manoranjan Mishra, Director, Jeevan Rekha Parishad (JRP), these industries are putting thousands of workers at risk for fatal diseases. “This is particularly of concern as the stone quarries and processing plants supplying quartz to the industry are dominated by smaller producers and the informal sector which have no knowledge of the health risks,” Mishra said.
“There is overwhelming evidence indicating that the labourers in these industries work in extremely hazardous conditions and will face life-threatening diseases within a few years unless mandatory dust controls are put in place,” said Perry Gottesfeld, Executive Director, OKI.
In recent years, the production and installation of these countertops have been associated with a rapid onset of the acute form of silicosis among workers in Israel, China, Australia, the US and the EU.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has called for a national ban on artificial stone products and a National Dust Disease Taskforce recommended a full ban on imports by July 2024, if remedial measures are taken to check a large number of deaths reported in recent years.
The JRP has appealed to the Ministry of Labour and Employment to implement an emergency standard for dust control, annual medical checkup and permissible exposure limits for silica dust in both factories and mines to match US levels.
