Silica Hazards from Engineered Stone Countertops. March 11, 2014 by Karen Worthington, MS, RN, COHN-S; Margaret Filios, SM, RN; Mary Jo Reilly, MS; Robert Harrison, MD, MPH; and Kenneth D. Rosenman, MD. A new engineered stone countertop product known as "quartz surfacing," was created in the late 1980s by combining quartz …