Doctors Confirm Black Lung In Victims Of Mine Blast

[n2doc]

by HOWARD BERKES
May 17, 201312:47 PM

The tragic deaths of 29 coal miners in a massive explosion in 2010 have provided new evidence of a resurgence of the disease known as black lung.

On Monday, a team of pathologists and lung disease experts will present the results of a detailed study of lung tissue from some of the victims of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia. They'll describe the findings at the American Thoracic Society's annual conference in Philadelphia this weekend.

"Our pathology — where we actually see the lung tissue, we actually see the scars, we see the dust — confirms we're seeing a problem," says Robert Cohen, the lead researcher and chairman of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Cook County Health and Hospitals System in Illinois.

Cohen's team reviewed lung tissue obtained from autopsies of seven of the Upper Big Branch victims. Only seven families of the deceased coal miners granted permission for the study.

Six of the seven samples bore telltale scarring that indicates black lung. One of the samples showed a "fairly advanced form of the disease."

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http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/05/17/184758863/doctors-confirm-black-lung-in-victims-of-mine-blast

[1-Old-Man]

1. Wow! Someone discovered that Coal Miners get black lung - did they not know all of them get it?

The only reason in this world that Black Lung is decreasing is that the number of men and women working in underground coal mines is decreasing. Virtually everyone who works in the mines for a few years develops Black Lung - everyone. It is like runners developing calluses on their feet, if you do the deed you will feel the effects. The difference is that calluses go away, Black Lung sends a man to the grave by a long slow and painful route.

[Warpy]

2. Respirators and proper ventilation were supposed to decrease

the incidence of it. Either the respirators were too hot to wear or the ventilation system wasn't ever functioning properly and the owners couldn't be arsed to fix it, something nasty is going on in the mines.

Mining has always been a super tough way to make a living and is one of the hazardous occupations that should get premium pay but doesn't.

[Lugnut]

3. My husband is a UMWA coal miner.

He faithfully used earplugs and a respirator on the job and he still has severe hearing loss and black lung. He worked in the processing plant, oh a haul truck and on a huge dragline shovel at an anthracite surface mine operation for over 40 years. A lot of the damage he's suffered was the result of the years he worked without any kind of protection devices. I would think that older miners are probably sicker than younger ones.