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Researchers Say They've Linked Silica Dust Directly To Severe Black Lung Disease

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Exposure to a toxic rock dust appears to be "the main driving force" behind a recent epidemic of severe black lung disease among coal miners, according to the findings of a new study. Lawmakers have debated and failed to adequately regulate the dust for decades.

The study, which examined the lungs of modern miners and compared them to miners who worked decades ago, provides the first evidence of its kind that silica dust is responsible for the rising tide of advanced disease, including among miners in Appalachia.

"This is the smoking gun," said the study's lead author, Dr. Robert Cohen of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. Cohen says that up to now there has been indirect evidence of the link, but his study went further — testing lung tissue samples for the concentration of silica particles.

"It turned out we were right. The pattern of pathology was very, very consistent with silica," Cohen says.

Cohen's study specifically looked at contemporary miners with severe disease and what was lodged in their lungs, compared to older workers who also had severe lung disease.

Among their findings was that the more-contemporary workers — those born after 1930 — had more silica in their lungs than the miners who were born between 1910 and 1930.

Cohen's work supports the findings of a joint investigation by NPR and the PBS show Frontline published in 2018.

NPR and Frontline found thousands of recent cases of the severe disease, known as complicated black lung or progressive massive fibrosis, in just five Appalachian states. Among them were miners in their 30s who experienced a rapid progression to advanced lung disease.

By analyzing decades of federal regulatory data, NPR and Frontline found thousands of instances where miners were working amid dangerous levels of silica. What's more, the investigation found, federal regulators knew about excessive and toxic mine dust exposures but didn't act — retaining an old regulatory standard for mining dust that doesn't directly address silica.

Silica particles can get lodged in a miner's lungs permanently

Silica exposure comes from miners cutting into sandstone as they mine coal, which has become more common in recent decades as larger coal deposits were exhausted in Appalachia. As the mining machines operate, the quartz in the sandstone turns into sharp silica particles that are easily inhaled and can lodge in the lungs permanently.

Cohen and others are calling for the federal government to toughen Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regulations on silica dust in mines.

United Mine Workers of America President Cecil E. Roberts tells NPR in a statement that the study "proves what we have already known, that silica is a leading cause behind the rise in cases of progressive massive fibrosis.

"I testified before Congress in 2019 on this exact issue and nothing was done," Roberts says. "Now there is no excuse. MSHA needs to act to enforce a silica standard to protect today's miners. Failure to act risks the lives of thousands."

Shortly after President Biden took office, the Labor Department's Inspector General said MSHA's 50-year-old standard for regulating silica dust was "out of date" and difficult to enforce.

Mine regulators at MSHA have said they are studying a possible update to the regulation, which remains less stringent than the silica standard for other industries.

"I've heard good things from the Biden administration," Cohen says, "but we'd really want to push this through while we have good data and political motivation to do it."

For its part, the National Mining Association, a trade association for mining companies and equipment makers, has argued that the amount of silica found in mine dust samples has decreased in recent years and has urged regulators to allow mining companies to use personal protective equipment as a strategy to comply with any new silica standard.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.Npr.Org.

'Emerging Health Concern.' Potentially Deadly Lung Disease Linked To Engineered Countertops

Silicosis may be unfamiliar to many, but for those who have renovated using artificial stone slabs for countertops, that decision could be contributing to an emerging health risk, experts warned. 

The condition, characterized by irreversible lung damage, primarily affects workers who cut engineered stone, a joint investigation by the NBC4 I-Team and Telemundo 52 Investiga revealed. 

Gustavo Reyes-Gonzalez, who was diagnosed with silicosis, recalled his symptoms.

"My first sign was a dry cough," he described.

Reyes-Gonzalez said he was initially diagnosed with pneumonia and later discovered the true cause during multiple hospitalizations amidst the COVID pandemic. 

"It was devastating," his wife, Wendy Torres, said.  

At only 30, Gustavo needed a lung transplant to survive. 

Silicosis results from exposure to silica dust generated when cutting, sawing or crushing stone countertops, especially engineered stone, which can contain up to 99% silica, health experts said. 

According to the California Department of Public Health, there have been 154 confirmed cases related to engineered stone, including at least 13 deaths, as of June 10, with Los Angeles County reporting 92 cases. 

Silicosis disproportionately affects Latino men, who are more likely to work with synthetic stone in kitchen remodels. 

Dr. Jane Fazio, a pulmonary specialist at Olive View Medical Center UCLA in the San Fernando Valley, conducted a study on silicosis and describes the rise in cases coinciding with the popularity of engineered countertops over the past decade. 

"It's become an emerging health crisis," she said. 

The disease disproportionately affects Latino men, who are more likely to work with synthetic stone in kitchen remodels. 

Dr. Fazio warned cases are expected to rise, prompting local authorities to act. 

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath spearheaded efforts to allocate funds for education and regulatory enforcement to protect workers. 

Today, there are new temporary emergency standards from Cal OSHA that now require water use and certain respirators for employees at countertop cutting businesses in California, though permanent rules are pending. 

Gustavo, now reliant on 15 daily medications post lung transplant, and his wife, Wendy, cherish their time together. 

Gustavo is currently involved in a legal battle against over 40 artificial stone manufacturers, alleging negligence and product liability. In court documents, the companies dispute the claims. 

Coal Miners Getting New Protections From Silica Dust Linked To Black Lung Disease

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Coal miners will be better protected from poisonous silica dust that has contributed to the premature deaths of thousands of mine workers from a respiratory ailment commonly known as black lung disease, the Labor Department said Tuesday as it issued a new federal rule on miners' safety.

The final rule, announced by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, cuts by half the permissible exposure limit for crystalline silica for an eight-hour shift.

KENTUCKY HOUSE VOTES TO DECREASE EMERGENCY SAFETY MEASURES IN SMALL COAL MINES

Mine workers, community advocates and elected officials from Appalachian states have pushed for the stricter rule, noting that health problems have grown in recent years as miners dig through more layers of rock to gain access to coal seams when deposits closer to the surface have long been tapped. The increased drilling generates deadly silica dust and has caused severe forms of pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung disease, even among younger miners, some in their 30s and 40s.

Julie Su speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions confirmation hearing for her to be the Labor Secretary, on Capitol Hill, April 20, 2023, in Washington. The Labor Department moved Tuesday to better protect miners from poisonous silica dust that has contributed to the premature deaths of thousands of mine workers from a respiratory disease commonly known as "black lung." (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

"It is unconscionable that our nation's miners have worked without adequate protection from silica dust despite it being a known health hazard for decades," Su said Tuesday. "Today, we're making it clear that no job should be a death sentence, and every worker has the right to come home healthy and safe at the end of the day.''

In Central Appalachia, an estimated one in five tenured coal miners has black lung disease. The condition reduces life expectancy by an average of 12 years and makes it a "struggle to get through a phone call or play with their grandkids without losing their breath,'' Su said in a speech in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where she appeared with Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, and other union leaders.

"For too long, we accepted this as just the way things are for people who work in mines,'' Su said. "They've had to work without the same protections from silica dust that people in other industries have, even though we've known about the harms of silica dust since Frances Perkins," who was labor secretary in the 1930s and 1940s.

The election-year rule shows "what it looks like to have the most pro-worker, pro-union president in history,'' Su said, a political comment referring to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Rebecca Shelton, director of policy at the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, which pressed for stricter rules to protect miners, said the group was reviewing the rule to ensure regulators from the Mine Safety and Health Administration accounted for comments by health professionals, attorneys and miners who have worked on the rule for years.

"There are too many lives at stake to get this wrong, and we'll do whatever we can to ensure that this rule provides the protection that miners deserve,'' Shelton said.

Democratic senators from Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia hailed the new rule, saying it will be essential in safeguarding miners.

A spokesman for the National Mining Association said the group was reviewing the rule but supports the lower limits. The mining lobby has pushed to allow use of administrative controls and personal protective equipment to meet safety standards. "Unfortunately, those recommendations were not included in the final rule,″ said spokesman Conor Bernstein.

Vonda Robinson, whose husband, John, was diagnosed with black lung a decade ago at age 47, said she's felt hopeful as officials considered the rule changes. But she was skeptical how the rule will be enforced.

Robinson, who lives in rural Nickelsville, Virginia, near the Tennessee line, said the mine safety office does not have enough staff or resources to adequately protect workers and their families.

"You can have rules, but until you back it up with enforcement, it's not going to mean anything," she said in an interview. "If they're going to put out these rulings, you need to hire more people."

The White House requested a $50 million increase to the mine safety office's budget for the current year, most of which would have been for more inspectors and enforcement. Congress rejected it, keeping the budget at the 2023 level of $388 million.

Vonda Robinson said her husband struggles every day. John Robinson worked in the mines for almost three decades. Two years ago, the couple met with a physician about a lung transplant.

"Until you see it and live with it, you don't understand," Vonda Robinson said. "And knowing what we're looking at now -- miners being diagnosed at 32 – they'll probably never see their children graduate or have grandchildren."

The Labor Department rule lowers the permissible exposure limit of respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air for a full-shift exposure, calculated as an 8-hour average. If a miner's exposure exceeds the limit, mine operators must take immediate corrective actions.

The rule is in line with exposure levels imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on construction and other non-mining industries. And it's the standard the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was recommending as far back as 1974.

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The Labor Department began studying silica and its impact on workers' health nearly a century ago, but the focus on stopping exposure in the workplace largely bypassed coal miners. Instead, regulations centered on coal dust, a separate hazard created by crushing or pulverizing coal rock that also contributes to 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. Silica dust is 20 times more toxic than coal dust and causes severe forms of black lung disease after even a few years of exposure.

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