Coal miners frustrated as Trump administration suspends health study
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Source: Associated Press
The 61-year-old Nelson blames his kidney and liver disease on the well water he drank for years, and his wife’s more severe asthma on dust and particles from surface mines near their home.
Some of his neighbors agree — and say surface mining in the mountains has been a primary culprit for various health problems. Some studies agreed with them but in the end were inconclusive. A new federal study was supposed to provide the most comprehensive review to date, but the Trump administration — a coal industry advocate — suspended it three months ago, citing budget reasons.
In a 2016 study in the journal Environmental Science & Policy, Indiana University professor Michael Hendryx examined data from 1968 to 2014 and found higher death rates in 37 central Appalachian counties with mountaintop mining than those without it, after adjusting for age, poverty, smoking, obesity and available doctors.
In a 2010 study in Geospatial Health, Hendryx found that West Virginia residents near mining sites had higher death rates from lung and other cancers after controlling for similar variables. Coal contains known carcinogens, including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel and beryllium, he wrote.
Read more: https://www.statnews.com/2017/11/11/coal-miners-health/
related article
Severe black lung disease levels ‘unprecedented,’ new data show
National Public Radio reported Friday that its investigation shows cases 10 times more prevalent, with data from 11 black lung clinics in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio showing 962 cases so far this decade. Some clinics had incomplete records and others declined to provide data about their “complicated” black lung cases.
On Thursday, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health said that 60 current and former miners — from Pike, Floyd, Letcher, and Knott counties in Kentucky — were diagnosed with progressive massive fibrosis, the most severe form of black lung, between January 2015 and last August. Those stricken struggle to breathe
“The current numbers are unprecedented by any historical standard,” NIOSH epidemiologist Scott Laney said. “We had not seen cases of this magnitude ever before in history in central Appalachia.”
Crum told NPR he was alarmed also that some affected miners were in their 30s and 40s and had worked less than 20 years underground. Since contacting NIOSH researchers, he has identified 10 more cases.
https://www.statnews.com/2016/12/16/black-lung-disease/
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