OSHA plans to slash silica workplace exposure limits

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that 2.2 million people in the U.S. are exposed to silica at work, including 1.85 million construction workers. Other occupations carrying a risk of silica exposure include sandblasting, mining, stone grinding, as well as ceramic and glass manufacturing. Silica has long been known to cause silicosis, and evidence now confirms that silica exposure can cause lung cancer as well, Kyle Steenland of Emory University in Atlanta, a co-author of the new report, told Reuters Health. Recent research has also shown that non-smokers can get lung cancer from silica exposure, and that people who develop silica-related lung cancer don't always have silicosis, Steenland and his colleague Elizabeth Ward of the American Cancer Society note.

via Health News Headlines - Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/osha-plans-slash-silica-workplace-exposure-limits-164636579.html