Black Lung Disease

The Eederal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act set standards for mine ventilation, roof support, coal dust concentrations levels, mine inspections, and equipment. As a part of this comprehensive act, miners must receive medical examinations at employer expense, and payments are made from the U.S. government to miners who caimot work because of black lung disease. 

Spending 1 hour in a coal mine Black lung disease... 

Individuals whose jobs expose them to unusually high particulate concentrations are especially susceptible to health problems from the pollutant. For example, men and women who work with the mineral asbestos are very prone to development of a serious and usually fatal condition known as asbestosis, in which fibers of the mineral become embedded in the interstices (the empty spaces within tissue) of the lung. Similar conditions are observed among coal workers who inhale coal dust (pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease) textile workers (byssinosis, or brown lung disease) those who work with clay, brick, silica, glass, and other ceramic materials (silicosis) and workers exposed to high levels of beryllium fumes (berylliosis). 

Pulmonary fibrosis in coal miners (called black lung disease). 

Perhaps the most widely known health impact of coal is black lung disease also known as coal workers pneumoconiosis. This was a widespread respiratory problem of coal miners caused by inhalation of dust particles during mining. The mineralogical content of the coal may play a role in the incidence and severity of the disease (Finkelman et al., 2002). 

Cancer, heart disease Black lung disease Air pollution Accident Accident Accident... 

Sayers remained at the Bureau of Mines until a new interior secretary replaced him in 1947. While still in office as a lame duck, and (according to the syndicated newspaper columnist Drew Pearson) without checking with his superiors, Sayers sent Lewis a letter that the Mine Workers president used to justify a national coal strike.37 A few months later, he was rewarded by Lewis with the position of chairman of the medical board of the union s newly established health plan, which in the following years resisted recognition of black lung disease.38... 

Examples of serious harm to workers from materials used and made in the manufacturing workplace are well known black lung disease and asbestosis stand out by the number of people affected and the severity of the results to long-term exposure to coal dust and asbestos fibers, respectively. Thus it is logical that, when dealing with bulk drugs (chemicals with potent and multiple biological activities), and as with thermochemi-... 

Smith, Barbara Ellen. 1987. Digging Our Own Graves Coal Miners and the Struggle over Black Lung Disease. Philadelphia Temple University Press. 

Black lung disease ftom coal dust... 

Let me recall, in conclusion, that in spite of many years of operations of dozens of nuclear energy plants (we now have about 50 in operation) so far no accident involving a person was caused by them. Surely, safety measures had to be put into operation, just as semaphores operate to prevent collisions of trains. However, no health has been impaired so far— we have nothing to compare with the 100,000 coal miners affected by the black lung disease. This does not indicate, by any means, that we should relax our attention to safety problems, but it surely does speak against scare stories opposing nuclear power plants. 

Particulates that are small enough to find their way into the lungs and remain there, including dusts fine enough to be classified as respirable dusts, can produce serious chronic conditions such as the group of diseases known as pneumoconiosis— lung diseases Uke coal miners black lung disease and silicosis. 

What is black lung disease Explain why black lung disease is probably a major problem in China, and see if there are any specific recent reports on this problan in China. 

Black Lung. Between 1997 and 2007, the rate of black lung disease among miners with 25 or more years experience in the mines had increased from 4 percent to 9 percent, and the rate among those with 20-24 years experience had jumped from 2.5 percent to 6 percent. ... 

---