Black Lung Rate Reaches 25-Year High in Appalachian Coal Mines States: NPR
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In the central Appalachians, the black lung rate of miners working for at least 25 years in the underground industry is the highest in a quarter of a century.
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In the center of the Appalachians, the black lung rate of coal miners who have been working for at least 25 years is the highest in a quarter of a century
Don Klumpp / Getty Images
One in five coal miners working in the central Appalachians who have been working for at least 25 years suffers from coal miner disease. This is the conclusion of the latest study that follows an epidemic of incurable and deadly disease.
This is the highest rate in a quarter century and indicates that the disease continues to afflict more miners in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. We have not seen this black lung rate since before the early 90's, "says Cara Halldin, epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the US Department of Health. one of the authors of the study.
results from the inhalation of coal and silica dust during coal mining. The lung tissue is marked by dust, which decreases the ability to breathe.
The study's researchers reviewed nearly fifty years of miners' x-rays as part of a national NIOSH effort to identify diseases in miners. They compared the last five years of X-rays with those taken earlier.
In addition to the increased rates of the disease, the study found that the most severe form of the disease – progressive massive fibrosis – now occurs in 5% of veteran miners "We can not think of any other industry or workplace in the US where this would be considered acceptable, "writes Halldin and his colleagues at the American Journal of Public Health. 19659014] Black lungs go back to the coal “/>
The study shows that "the protections We have "Celeste Monforton, former federal regulator of mine safety and lecturer in public health at Texas State University, said that" the rules for protecting coal mines are not adequate. "T L & # The application of these rules has not been adequate, and penalties for mine operators who do not comply with these rules are not adequate, "explains Monforton.
The National Mining Association (NMA), the largest lobbying group in the industry, qualifies the results of this study as "troubling". Burke also notes that the study involves "minors whose exposure dates back decades before more stringent standards are put in place."
This is a reference to new rules of thumb. Exposure to mine dust entirely imposed by the MSHA. 2016.
"One of the challenges we face in fighting this disease is that symptoms do not usually manifest until age 10," adds Burke, "which means we do not know yet if changes to dust "
Jackie Yates, a coal miner in Virginia, was diagnosed with the most severe form of black lung disease five years ago, at the age of 44.
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Jackie Yates, a coal miner in Virginia, was diagnosed with the most severe form of black lung disease five years ago at the age of 44.
Adelina Lancianese / NPR
A committee of mining experts convened by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine recently suggested that new dust-proof regulations do not adequately measure dust exposure for enough miners in enough mines
Louvière says his agency "is studying the study right now."
Virginia coal miner Jackie Yates still working despite a diagnosis of PMF five years ago at 44 years old. Yates watched his brother die of illness each breath before being placed on a fan.
"I know what I'm looking at," says Yates. "No one wants to die … but to go the way I've seen my brother go, it's not good to know how you're going."
Halldin is pessimistic about what the NIOSH has called an ongoing epidemic of PMF and the largest groups of advanced black lung ever recorded, which were identified in an NPR survey and confirmed by NIOSH researchers.
"What you see now in active miners is what you will see later in the former miners, and potentially greater disease and more progression," says Halldin. "And so it's probably an underestimate of what we'll see in the future."
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