What a lameass argument.
Workers today have more protective gear working in coal mines, but of course your argument to shut them down is some black lung in rare workers.
Black Lung Disease - Topic Overview
Black Lung Disease-Topic Overview
Black Lung On The Rise After Declining In The 70s And 80s.
Black lung, or "Coal workers' pneumoconiosis," is a preventable disease caused by exposure to coal mine dust. It causes chronic cough, shortness of breath and restriction of airflow. In September 2007, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health announced that black lung rates among coal miners had doubled in the previous decade:
- Ten years ago, about 4 percent of coal miners with 25 or more years of experience showed signs of black lung disease.
- But new X-ray data from 2005 and 2006 found about 9 percent of miners with 25 or more years working underground showed lung abnormalities that indicate black lung.
- Rates among miners with 20 to 24 years of experience also increased, from 2.5 percent to about 6 percent, over the same period, according to NIOSH data.
- Since NIOSH began its miners X-ray study program in 1970, black lung rates had consistently declined. A small increase occurred between 1995 and 2000, and the most recent data shows that trend worsening.
[Charleston Gazette, 9/14/07, via Nexis]
Investigation Reveals Negligence On Part Of Industry, Regulators.
Last week, iWatch News released reports, with support from NPR and Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette, on the resurgence of black lung and the failure of regulators to prevent and punish violations:
The disease's resurgence represents a failure to deliver on a 40-year-old pledge to miners in which few are blameless, an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and NPR has found.
The system for monitoring dust levels is tailor-made for cheating, and mining companies haven't been shy about doing so. Meanwhile, regulators often have neglected to enforce even these porous rules. Again and again, attempts at reform have failed.
A Center analysis of databases maintained by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration found that miners have been breathing too much dust for years, but MSHA has issued relatively few violations and routinely allowed companies extra time to fix problems. [iWatch News, 7/8/12, emphasis added]
News Outlets Largely Ignored Surging Threat To Coal Miners And Lack Of Reform.
We analyzed coverage by searching "black lung or pneumoconiosis or silicosis" in Nexis and Factiva from October 14, 2010 (when the MHSA rule was proposed) through July 13, 2012. News outlets included in the study are the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, PBS, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and the primetime shows on MSNBC and Fox News.
- In total, these news outlets only mentioned the recent increase in black lung cases on 7 occasions since October 2010. Each of those instances came from AP, the Wall Street Journal, PBS or NPR.
- CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, USA TODAY, and Fox News did not mention present-day U.S. cases of black lung at all during the study period.
- Since October 2010, only AP, NPR and the New York Times have mentioned Republican obstruction of the MHSA rule.
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