The study also showed more concrete evidence that the hard-fought gains won by miners on reducing exposure to coal dust have deeply been eroded, especially in small (nonunion) mines that dominated its “hot spots.”

The fact that the disease showed up among younger miners, the researchers concluded, suggested exposure to “higher concentrations of dust” than in the past. Translated, the government was letting coal bosses get away with murder, especially in mines of 50 or less where black lung incidence was highest.

In fact, a follow-up NIOSH study in southwestern Virginia suggested conditions could be getting worse. It found 9 percent of the 328 miners screened had “evidence of rapidly progressive pneumoconiosis,” compared with 3 percent in the original study’s national sample

Both the Militant article and the studies’ authors speculated that the problem is that the exposure limit of 2 milligram per cubic meter of respirable particles is too high and should be cut in half as recommended by NIOSH in 1996.

But the problem spotlighted by these studies isn’t that the standard is too high, which it may well be. The results point to long-standing violations of current standards.

In this regard, it should be noted that since the 1969 Coal Act, coal companies have been primarily responsible for coal-dust sampling. A 1993 series in the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal documented that the government had for 20 years known coal companies cheat on these samples.

Lastly, the Militant article said black lung “could be prevented by properly ventilating coal mines.” According to an April 2000 NIOSH research report, however, “water sprays remain the most widely used technology for limiting exposures to respirable dust.”

Karl Butts
Birmingham, Alabama
 
 
Related articles:
Bosses’ profit drive kills 40  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home