Updated
The number of known silicosis cases in Australia is rapidly climbing.
Key points:
- The silicosis reporting system varies, so reports of 350 cases nationwide is an estimate
- There have been calls for a total ban on silica, but dust diseases clinician Dr Graeme Edwards says there is not sufficient evidence for this
- He says there is a safe way to handle silica, unlike asbestos, and believes the problem lies with enforcement
The latest estimate puts the number of cases at 350 nationwide — about 100 more than in September.
The spike in the sometimes fatal disease is being driven by a trend towards engineered stone kitchen benchtops.
Thousands of workers have inhaled dangerous quantities of silica during the installation process over the last decade.
The latest estimate of 350 silicosis cases comes from a leading dust diseases clinician, Dr Graeme Edwards, who is also a member of the taskforce advising the Health Minister, Greg Hunt, on the matter.
"Previously we were able to report on what's happening in Queensland, what's happening in Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales," said Dr Edwards, the national spokesman for the College of Physicians.
"One of the advantages I have is being able to collect the information that's coming to me and put those numbers together."
He says the reporting process varies between jurisdictions, so it's impossible to know the true magnitude of the problem as yet, but 350 is the best guess.
That growing number is also revealing just how toxic silica exposure can be.
"We're forming a clearer picture," he says.
"From the first 35 that I saw, we were thinking in the order of one in three persons who were exposed for more than three years would develop the disease, so 30 per cent."
Silica in some benchtops 'more toxic than asbestos'
Based on the new figure, the estimated level of toxicity has since been revised down narrowly."Now that we've got bigger numbers, that figure is around 20-25 per cent.
"So between one in four and one in five people who've had extended exposure."
Dr Graeme Edwards says that pattern means the silica in some engineered stone benchtops is significantly more toxic than asbestos.
"It's crudely of the order of five to six times more potent a problem," which depending on the definition of toxicity, sits around 6 per cent, according to Dr Edwards.
There are calls for a total ban on the product, but Dr Edwards says there isn't sufficient evidence for a total industry-wide ban.
He says unlike with asbestos, there is a safe way to handle silica.
"In a formed state, the product called silica is safe. There is law that prohibits the unsafe work practices that unfortunately we are still seeing today."
Dr Edwards believes the problem lies with enforcement.
"It is the failings of various parts of the system to apply the law that already exists."
He says regulation of the industry is in the process of being improved but has a way to go; a national code of practice is being developed, but won't be enacted before late 2020 at the earliest.
Dr Edwards says an outright ban isn't impossible in the long term, but it's not on the cards in the short term: "I think it's going to be unlikely."
The taskforce advising the Health Minister on the matter finalised and delivered its interim report to the Government on December 20.
A statement from the Health Minister Greg Hunt said: "Publication of the advice will be a matter for the Government."
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