![]() ![]() ![]() Silica dust is 20 times more toxic than coal dust and causes severe forms of black lung disease even after a few years of exposure.Īn estimated one in five tenured miners in Central Appalachia has black lung disease one in 20 has the most disabling form of black lung. In the decades since, silica dust has become a major problem as Appalachian miners cut through layers of sandstone to reach less accessible coal seams in mountaintop mines where coal closer to the surface has long been tapped. Instead, regulations centered on coal dust, a separate hazard created by crushing or pulverizing coal rock that also contributes to black lung. Department of Labor began studying silica and its impact on workers’ health in the 1930s, but the focus on stopping exposure in the workplace largely bypassed coal miners. Silicosis is an occupational pneumoconiosis caused by the inhalation of crystalline silica dust present in minerals like sandstone. ![]()
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