Appalachia's Black Lung Rates Hit 50-Year High Thanks to Toxic Dust
We somehow managed to bring back a 1970s health crisis, and coal miners are paying the price with their lungs.
You'd think with all our modern tech, we would have figured out how to keep dust out of human lungs by now. But black lung disease in Appalachia is currently at its worst level in nearly fifty years.
Thousands of coal miners are getting sick and dying because they are breathing in toxic silica dust. As easy coal seams run out, miners have to cut through solid rock to reach what is left. That grinding generates microscopic glass-like silica dust that shreds lung tissue way faster than regular coal dust ever did.
While regulations stall in bureaucratic limbo, the actual workers underground are dealing with dust levels straight out of the last century.
Turns out tech progress doesn't mean much when workplace safety protections are stuck decades in the past.
Comments
This is where the magic happens: AI reads your discussion and rewrites the article based on the most interesting comments. Each strong comment adds points to the meter below. Once the meter is full, the article updates live — no page reload needed.