M10.8 Blog about an occupationally-related disease

There are a number of classic occupational diseases.   Byssinosis (Brown Lung), Pneumoconiosis (Black Lung), Asbestosis (White Lung) are among them.  

Each of these diseases still affects many workers today.   Over the years there have been major public health campaigns to address them.  Organized labor has often lead the campaigns.   Select one of these diseases and search the web to learn about the history of the public health campaigns and the current status of the disease and related occupational health policies.   (What are the OSHA or MSHA regulations regarding the exposures that cause the disease that you selected to review?)   

Feature a short blurb on your blog regarding your selected occupationally-related disease.

The disease I chose to research for this blog post is Pneumoconiosis or Black Lung disease. Black lung is also known as Coalworker's pneumoconiosis because it is caused by long-term exposure to coal dust and is common among coal miners and others who work with coal. The set of conditions associated with this disease were actually first identified as black lung disease in the 1950s. The United Mine Workers of America did not prioritize protections against this disease at first because it was viewed as a potential threat to mechanization because mechanization caused more dust which worsened the incidence of disease among coal workers. However, in 1969 the U.S. government passed the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 which set up standards to reduce dust exposure and created the Black Lung disabilities trust, which has distributed $44 billion in compensation to coal miners as of 2009.  After the act was passed, the incidence of black lung disease decreased by 90%. However, recently the disease as once again been on the rise. According to NIOSH, 9% of coal miners with 25+ years of working in the mines have black lung disease in 2006, up from just 4% in the 1990s. NIOSH, with support from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), operates a mobile health screening program for miners that provides miners with health evaluations every 5 years free of cost. 

However, in 2017 an NPR investigation found that NIOSH had severely under-reported cases of progressive massive fibrosis (PMF), which is a known complication of black lung disease. NPR identified over 2,000 cases at certain clinics in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, while NIOSH only reported 99 cases total.  In 2018, NIOSH confirmed the largest cluster of PMF ever documented, despite near-elimination of the disease in the 1990s. NIOSH has speculated that the causes of this unprecedented increase are longer working shifts, mining of thinner coal seams (which causes mining machines to put more non-coal silica dust in the air), and retirements and layoffs that have led to more former employees visiting health clinics.