Miners Still Getting Black Lung: "This Shouldn't Be Happening"

[Omaha Steve]

FULL story: http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/08/miners-still-getting-black-lung-this.html

Miners Still Getting Black Lung: "This Shouldn't Be Happening"

It's been well over 100 years since Congress first told mine companies to limit coal dust in mines and four decades since the first efforts were made to reduce the incidence of Black Lung.

But a NIOSH report last week revealed that

a greater proportion of miners in Eastern Kentucky and western Virginia suffer from severe cases of black lung than elsewhere in the nation, a federal study shows.

And they are getting it at an earlier age.

***

"This shouldn't be happening," said Dr. Vinicius Antao, lead researcher on an October 2005 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The study found a concentration of severe black lung cases among active miners in six states: Kentucky, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Alabama and Colorado.

What's going on?

Antao said his research hasn't identified the reason, but his two theories are excessive dust levels or a more toxic type of coal mined in the region.

Although the percentages of severe and progressive black lung cases seem small, they indicate "inadequate prevention measures in specific regions," Antao's study states.

Retired miner George Massey, 53, of Benham, Ky., said he's not surprised by the findings.

"The main objective of the companies is to get as much coal as they can," he said. "Some will mine without water and without ventilation. You're gonna suck up everything you can get."

The Louisville Courier Journal agrees and adds some more possible reasons:

[Stargazer99]

1. Labor is road kill according to those that own the means of production

And still Joe Six Pac says capitalism is the best thing since sliced bread! What puzzles me is how the general public cannot put two and two together. It all boils down to the profit motive even if it kills laborers. So much for conservatives "pro-life" values. They only value life until born...then you are on your own!