What is engineered stone and why is Australia banning it?

My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

Good morning and welcome to the Daily os It's Monday, the eighteenth of December.

I'm Zara, I'm Sam.

This week Australia became the first country in the world to ban engineered stone.

Engineered stone is killing workers right now in the factories where workers are working with it and on.

Site where workers are also installing it.

Now.

Engineered stone has become a popular and more affordable alternative to natural stone, so things like marble in bathrooms and kitchens, but it contains a dangerous and potentially life threatening substance. In today's deep Dive, we'll tell you more about engineered stone and unpack this new band before we get there, though, Sam, what's making headlines.

Local mayors in areas of North Queensland affected by major flooding have backed calls for Australian Defense Force personnel to be called into the region to help with disaster relief efforts. It's the worst flood in Cansas history, with waterways three meters above major flood levels and they have now exceeded the levels set by the previous record, which was in nineteen seventy seven. Can's airport remains closed and ten five hundred homes remain without power.

The Australian Medical Association is calling for the federal government to introduce minimum rebates for private health insurance customers. The AMA's latest Health Insurance report card found significant variations across rebates for identical procedures from different insurers. The report also found health insurantfits increased by one point three billion dollars this year compared to the twenty twenty twenty twenty one financial year.

And the Australian men's cricket team have recorded a victory over Pakistan in the first Test of Australia's home summer series in Western Australia. The highlight of the test was the five hundredth Test wicket taken by spinner Nathan Lyon. He becomes only the third Australian men's cricketer to reach that milestone behind only Shane Warn and Glenn McGrath. Australia beat Pakistan by three hundred and sixty runs.

And the good news, A treatment using the medical technology from the Maderna and Phizer COVID vaccines has been found to successfully reduce the risk of skin cancer recurring. A clinical trial of over one hundred and fifty patients with high risk melanoma found the Maderna Merk treatment, which uses mRNA technology, reduced the risk of skin cancer occurrence and death by nearly fifty percent when used after surgery. All right, so, Sam,

So is this not natural stone, right, It's a different substance.

Yeah, So think of a kitchen bench top which can be made out of stones like granite and marble. These are natural stones and they can look great, but they're also pretty expensive. So essentially, engineered stone is a cheaper, man made alternative to these stones. So no, not a natural stone, a cheaper alternative.

And I kind of know the reputation of marble is being super expensive, especially if it's in one big slab. So what's the danger then with the man made engineered stone?

So the issue with engineered stone actually comes from a mineral it contains called crystalline silica. Now, engineered stone isn't dangerous once it's installed, but whenever a construction worker or a stone may s and needs to cut or drill or polish it, these small dust particles are released. And these particles contain crystalline silica. Now, this dust is extremely dangerous to breathe in. It can cause a lung disease called silicosis.

Okay, So if you have one of these engineered benchtops installed in your home, that's not the problem we're looking at, right, It's the actual construction correct cutting. It's the people that are working on getting it into the home and actually providing that. Okay. And if the implications here is that you can develop silicosis, what do we know about how dangerous silicosis can be?

So, I mean it can be fatal, right, And the group that's most risk of being diagnosed with silicosis, as I just alluded to tradees, the people who are actually working with the stone. It's estimated that about ten thousand people around the world have died from silicosis. It's also incurable, so once you've been diagnosed with it, it stays with you forever.

And what do we know about silicosis in Australia right now?

So a study from Curtain University last year estimated roughly five hundred and eighty thousand Australian workers have been exposed in some capacity to silica dust, so not necessarily that they have then had it progress into silicosis, but that they've been exposed to it.

But that's an insane number of people in the population of Australia.

Yeah, and so there have been these calls then to ban the stone altogether to protect these trades who are being exposed to it. And it's mostly been a call from the unions who are representing those workers who are at risk. The Construction Union, so the CFMAU has been pushing to ban and what it calls kill a Stone, and it launched a campaign sharing stories of workers who have become sick from being exposed to silica dust.

Instead of planning a family. We're planning my funeral. I used to cut kitchen bench tops. People liked engineered stone because it was cheaper, but the dust got into my lungs, causing incurable, deadly silicosis. That's too high a price for anyone to pay. Nothing will save myne But if you join the campaign to stop the importation and manufacture of engineered stone, you can help save someone else's. Please.

It's not just the unions. There've also been some public health experts who have been demanding changes, and they've been saying that in order to protect workers, you can't actually have them cutting any engineered stone that contained silica dust. Now, the movement's gained more momentum since the national workplace safety authority safe Work Australia published a report in October and that recommended a total ban on all engineered stone products.

So this report got handed down in October with quite a conclusive finding. Did governments agree to a ban after.

That, Well, actually it was retailers who responded before we'd heard from the government. So some retailers that sell engineered Stone responded pretty quickly to the Safe Work Report, whichaw Bunnings and Ikia both announced that they'd stop selling it

And how does that actually happen in practice? So all the ministers get together, they decide this product is no longer going to be available. What happens now?

So each jurisdiction will look at when to actually introduce the ban. So most states and territories have said that their bands will take effect from July one next year, and I presume that's just for the transition period. There are definitely more details that will need to be determined though, and that will happen at another meeting in March next year, where ministers will consider things like what happens to builders who have contracts to install engineered stone products.

I'm sure or some are halfway built but.

Workplace Ministers did agree the other day that these builders will have a grace period to fulfill their obligations and implement the ban. The federal government has also indicated that it's looking at banning the import of engineered stone in Australia.

And how's this ban been received? So when now a couple of days out from the Wednesday announcement.

So unions have understandably welcomed the decision. The Australian Council of Trade Unions said it will save lives and prioritizes workers ahead of corporate profits. There has been some opposition to the ban, mostly from the engineered stone suppliers themselves. The Australian Engineered Stone Advisory Group, which represents those suppliers, has rolled out a petition against the ban, saying it won't solve silicosis.

And it makes sense that if they are representing the producers of that material that they're against it. Have they recommended any alternatives or other ways to get the desired result?

Yeah, so a good question. Instead of a ban, the group says it wants to improve safety regulations for workers and have an exemption for engineered stone that's less than forty percent silica from any of these bands. It is important to note here that the forty percent figure has been described as flawed by health experts who say there's no safe level of exposure to silica dust at all.

Okay, so, while there's still some details to iron out in this plan and we'll wait for that meeting of State and territory industrial leaders in March, it's clear that we are going to see less engineered stone in Australia and eventually you'd think no engineered stone in Australia. Thanks for taking us through that, Zara, and thank you for listening to that episode of The Daily Os. That's our