Coal miners' black-lung rates have doubled in the last decade, study says

After decades of decline in the incidence of black lung, the coal miners' disease is on the rise, The Charleston Gazette reports. Ken Ward Jr. writes that a new study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shows the rate of black lung has doubled since 1997. According to the study, 9 percent of miners with 25 or more years working underground show signs of black lung, up from 4 percent 10 years ago. Since NIOSH began its X-ray studies of miners' lungs in 1970, until the late 1990s, black lung rates had been steadily declining. A 2006 study from the Centers for Disease Control reported areas in Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky where cases of black lung were sharply increasing, Ward writes.

The 1969 Coal Mine Safety and Health Act was passed to limit the amount of airborne dust in mines, but United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts said the dust standard is not strong enough, or is not being strictly enforced. “We’ve seen that miners are dying at increased rates on the job in the last two years,” he told Ward. “Now, we’re finding out that many more of them are getting this terrible disease many of their fathers and grandfathers suffered from. Miners need action now.” (Read more)