[Micele]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Micele

Zou Trump ervoor zorgen dat er opnieuw koolmijners een stoflong en radon opdoen in de mijnen? Proficiat Trump. :roll

http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandl...s-are-still-d/

Why US coal miners are still developing black lung disease

Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of Lecturer, Texas State University & Professorial Lecturer Milken Institute School of Public Health on June 3, 2011
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In Hawk’s Nest Redux, Ellen Smith reports that an apalling number of the 29 deceased Upper Big Branch coal miners had black lung disease. The autopsy evidence was reported at the end of one chapter of the investigation report prepared by an independent panel of investigators commissioned by the Governor of West Virginia.* Smith compared the shocking prevalence of lung disease in these men in the year 2010, to the 1930’s Hawk’s Nest tunnel/Gauley Bridge disaster in which a thousand workers developed acute and progressive lung disease within just a few weeks of work breathing air thick with silica dust. She writes,

Hawk’s Nest is considered: “…one of the worst man-made industrial accidents in U.S. history. But as we know, it wasn’t an accident. Workers were placed in harm’s way for profit. Their health be damned.”

Among the deceased Upper Big Branch (UBB) miners, 24 of the 29 had enough lung tissue to be examined by a pathologist, and 71% of these men had evidence of black lung (a.k.a. Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP)).

Black lung is a chronic, fibrotic and irreversible respiratory disease caused by inhaling respirable coal mine dust (comprised of coal and rock.) The respirable size particles deposit deep in the lungs and robs miners of their breath and life.

...
How is it possible in the year 2010, that U.S. coal miners are still developing black lung disease???? It’s an occupational illness that is TOTALLY preventable with diligent use of dust control measures including proper ventilation, water sprays and dust collectors.

The simple answer: these men and miners across the country are exposed to levels of respirable coal and silica dust that cause disease, BUT under current worker safety regulations, these hazardous levels are LEGAL. Mine operators have been allowed for decades to expose workers to deadly levels of respirable dust that the public health community predicted would cause respiratory diseases, including coal workers’ pneumoconiosis.

More than 15 years ago, the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) recommended that the permissible exposure limit for respirable coal dust be reduced from 2.0 mg per cubic meter of air (m3) to 1.0 mg/m3. It was not until last October that the Obama Administration’s Labor Department, specifically the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) took the first step to propose a more protective occupational exposure limit. That rulemaking is ongoing but running up against strong opposition from the mining industry and some members of Congress.

Moreover, most coal miners are not exposed to pure coal dust. Instead, the respirable dust they breathe contains varying concentrations of quartz (crystallline silica) which is substantially more harmful to lung tissue than coal dust. MSHA’s (like OSHA’s) permissible exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica is woefully out-of-date and not protective of workers’ health.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/thr...ion-2017-06-02



Two of the few remaining U.S. coal companies and a mining company stepped forward Friday to laud President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, putting them at odds with other industry leaders who voiced their protest.

Iron-ore miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. CLF, -3.40% and coal miners Murray Energy Corp., a privately held company, and Peabody Energy Corp. BTU, -3.03% welcomed the news. The companies shared Trump’s view that staying in the 2015 agreement would lead to increased electricity costs and loss of jobs, a view contested by others.