Coalworker's Pneumoconiosis - 21st Century

21st Century

There are currently about 130,000 underground coal miners actively working in the United States. The mining and production of coal is a major part of the economy in several developed countries. In the past ten years, over 10,000 American miners have died from CWP. Although this disease is preventable, many miners are still developing advanced and severe cases.

In 1966 Doctors I.E. Buff, Hawey Wells, and Donald Rasmussen started studies on effects of working in coal mines. They soon had the first miner who would allow experimental tests to find out how his lungs were affected, Earl Stafford, then a 48 year old miner who had been forced to leave the mines due to his lung condition.

In the following years, Doctors Buff, Wells, and Rasmussen, and Mr. Stafford, continued to lobby for action to provide help and develop preventive measures to eliminate this disease. Mr. Stafford along with a group of disabled miners lobbied congress. Mr. Stafford later testified before the U.S. congress about the conditions to which miners were subjected. He later led this band of miners to conduct local strikes and work stoppages to bring attention to miners suffering from Black Lung, its effects and possible preventative measures. In addition he lectured at several universities, including Berea College in 1974.

By January 1986, at the age of 68, Earl Stafford died as a result of black lung.

In the 40 years since the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 became law, the proportion of miners with black lung disease has gone down by about 90 percent. But the downward trend of this disease in coal miners has not continued. Rates of black lung are on the rise, and have almost doubled in the last 10 years. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reported that close to 9 percent of miners with 25 years or more experience tested positive for black lung in 2005–2006, compared with 4 percent in the late 1990s.

New findings have shown that CWP can be a risk for surface coal miners, which comprise of 48% of the workforce. Recent data from the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program of NIOSH, which examined chest X-rays from over 2,000 miners in 16 US states from 2010-2011, showed that 2% of miners with greater than one year of surface mining experience developed CWP. 0.5% of these miners had PMF. Most of these workers had never worked in an underground mine prior to surface mining. A high proportion of the X-rays suggested that these miners had developed silicosis.

NIOSH, with support from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), has started a Mobile Health Screening Program. This Mobile Unit travels to mining regions around the United States. Miners who participate in the Program receive health evaluations once every five years, at no cost to themselves. Chest x-rays can detect the early signs of and changes in CWP, often before the miner is aware of any lung problems. The screening program is only available to current miners.