black lung disease

"There's a lot of memories here, some good, some bad," said Danny Smith, reflecting on his years working at the now-defunct Solid Energy mine in Pike County, Ky. Smith, 51, suffers from an advanced and incurable stage of black lung disease.

Health & Safety
National

As coal miners suffer and die from severe black lung, a proposed fix may fall short

5:00am November 07, 2023

For decades, miners have called for limits on highly toxic silica dust, which they're exposed to while mining. An investigation shows its impact and the weakness of proposed rules to protect them.

David Zatezalo, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, was asked about the advanced black lung epidemic at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 6, 2018.

National
Health & Safety

Black Lung Study Finds Biggest Cluster Ever Of Fatal Coal Miners' Disease

4:27pm February 06, 2018

The cluster, found in central Appalachia and first reported by NPR, indicates that a disease once thought to be on the decline is still a common killer among coal miners.

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A display case at NIOSH shows a normal lung and a diseased black lung, caused by inhaling coal dust and other harmful particles while coal mining.

Health & Safety
National

NPR Continues To Find Hundreds Of Cases Of Advanced Black Lung

1:25pm July 01, 2017

by Howard Berkes

Black lung results from exposure to coal dust. Progressive massive fibrosis is an especially aggressive form, blamed on inhalation of silica dust from the cutting of quartz rock and coal together.