By The Editors Sandblasting is used to make new blue jeans look distressed.  Unfortunately, sandblasting kills people. In 2011, a rigorous study published in the journal Chest showed that formerly healthy young people exposed to silica sand, used in the sandblasting of jeans, developed silicosis — a disabling and potentially fatal lung disease for which there is no cure.  The young people either became disabled or died. According to the American Lung Association, “Silicosis is a lung disease caused by inhaling tiny bits of silica. Silica is a common mineral that is part of sand, rock and mineral ores like quartz. People who work in jobs where they could breathe in…