Black Lung
Aug. 16th, 2006 08:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brdgt
Study finds concentration of severe black lung in Appalachian miners
By James R. Carroll, The Courier-Journal, August 16, 2006
Despite almost four decades of efforts to reduce coal dust, a greater proportion of miners in Eastern Kentucky and western Virginia suffer from severe cases of black lung than elsewhere in the nation, a federal study shows.
And they are getting it at an earlier age.
Now researchers are back in the coalfields surveying miners and studying chest X-rays to try to find out why.
"This shouldn't be happening," said Dr. Vinicius Antao, lead researcher on an October 2005 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The study found a concentration of severe black lung cases among active miners in six states: Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Alabama and Colorado.
Kentucky counties with the highest proportions were Knott, Leslie, Martin, Pike, Floyd, Perry, Letcher and Harlan.
Antao said his research hasn't identified the reason, but his two theories are excessive dust levels or a more toxic type of coal mined in the region.
Although the percentages of severe and progressive black lung cases seem small, they indicate "inadequate prevention measures in specific regions," Antao's study states.
Retired miner George Massey, 53, of Benham, Ky., said he's not surprised by the findings.
"The main objective of the companies is to get as much coal as they can," he said. "Some will mine without water and without ventilation. You're gonna suck up everything you can get."
Julius Michael Smith, a 49-year-old coal miner in Eastern Kentucky, showed up this week at the NIOSH site in Pike County for a chest X-ray. He won't know the results for at least eight weeks, but he suspects he has black lung after 19 years on the job.
"Coal mines are not dust-free," he said. "You have to produce coal. You can't operate 100 percent by the rules. You could, but you wouldn't make no money."
David Dye, acting head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said in a statement yesterday that he encourages miners to report hazardous dust levels in mines.
"Miners should not suffer from the devastating effects of black lung disease, and we remind the … industry that compliance with the respirable dust standard is a continuing responsibility on every shift, not just those shifts that are sampled by the operator and MSHA inspectors," Dye said.
Based on X-rays of more than 29,000 miners from 1996 to 2002, NIOSH found 886 cases of black lung -- about 3 percent. Of those cases, 35 percent qualified as severe, meaning the disease progressed more rapidly than might be expected.
Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Caylor stressed that the small percentages of black lung prove that the disease is fading and that more research should be done before coal operators are blamed.
By James R. Carroll, The Courier-Journal, August 16, 2006
Despite almost four decades of efforts to reduce coal dust, a greater proportion of miners in Eastern Kentucky and western Virginia suffer from severe cases of black lung than elsewhere in the nation, a federal study shows.
And they are getting it at an earlier age.
Now researchers are back in the coalfields surveying miners and studying chest X-rays to try to find out why.
"This shouldn't be happening," said Dr. Vinicius Antao, lead researcher on an October 2005 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The study found a concentration of severe black lung cases among active miners in six states: Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Alabama and Colorado.
Kentucky counties with the highest proportions were Knott, Leslie, Martin, Pike, Floyd, Perry, Letcher and Harlan.
Antao said his research hasn't identified the reason, but his two theories are excessive dust levels or a more toxic type of coal mined in the region.
Although the percentages of severe and progressive black lung cases seem small, they indicate "inadequate prevention measures in specific regions," Antao's study states.
Retired miner George Massey, 53, of Benham, Ky., said he's not surprised by the findings.
"The main objective of the companies is to get as much coal as they can," he said. "Some will mine without water and without ventilation. You're gonna suck up everything you can get."
Julius Michael Smith, a 49-year-old coal miner in Eastern Kentucky, showed up this week at the NIOSH site in Pike County for a chest X-ray. He won't know the results for at least eight weeks, but he suspects he has black lung after 19 years on the job.
"Coal mines are not dust-free," he said. "You have to produce coal. You can't operate 100 percent by the rules. You could, but you wouldn't make no money."
David Dye, acting head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said in a statement yesterday that he encourages miners to report hazardous dust levels in mines.
"Miners should not suffer from the devastating effects of black lung disease, and we remind the … industry that compliance with the respirable dust standard is a continuing responsibility on every shift, not just those shifts that are sampled by the operator and MSHA inspectors," Dye said.
Based on X-rays of more than 29,000 miners from 1996 to 2002, NIOSH found 886 cases of black lung -- about 3 percent. Of those cases, 35 percent qualified as severe, meaning the disease progressed more rapidly than might be expected.
Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Caylor stressed that the small percentages of black lung prove that the disease is fading and that more research should be done before coal operators are blamed.
