Report: Eastern Kentucky Sees Spike in Severe Black-Lung Cases

December 21, 2016

  • December 21, 2016 at 3:22 pm
    curious says:
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    If there were 31 cases identified nationwide in the 10 years from 1990 to 1999 and then there are 60 cases diagnosed by A SINGLE RADIOLOGIST in 20 months from January 2015- August 2016, what am I missing?

    • December 22, 2016 at 12:43 pm
      also curious says:
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      I caught this story on PBS Newshour last week which offers some explanations (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/rate-black-lung-disease-among-miners-may-10-times-higher-reported/): 1. limitations of government researchers combined with voluntary nature of miners getting x-rays amid their widespread belief that they may be penalized by employers for getting them, and 2. new mining processes that crush more quartz/silicon rock with the coal, which gets into their lungs.



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