That’s NPR’s claim — but is it true? I asked a pulmonologist who has treated black lung.
Here is the NPR report (audio).
Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), also known as black lung disease or black lung can be simple or complicated.
Simple CWP is not associated with any disability, though many thousands of miners have acquired it.
Any disability found is from the COPD is likely caused by their cigarette smoking.
While the chest x-rays look bad, ike cement-workers lung, there is very little if any disability. The pathology shown by lung biopsy is completely different also.
The decreasing numbers of miners with this should correspond to the decreased concentration of dust over the years. The many thousands of miners who got government (taxpayer) compensation over the years were due to the lobbying of the United Mine Workers of America.
Complicated CWP is only a fraction of the number of simple CWP. It is the body’s autoimmune self-destruction of the lungs initiated by exposure to the dust. It is not dependent on the concentration of dust, but on the allergic response to the exposure to the dust. Here, disability will advance to severe and the only treatment is to remove the miner from exposure to the dust.
X-rays of complicated CWP are completely different from simple CWP, i.e., ‘angel wings’ appearing in the tops of both lung fields that over the years migrate down to the hila of the lungs.
The diagnosis of CWP — i.e., simple or complicated — is subjective, which could lead to abuses of physicians inclined to make such a diagnosis for compensatory reasons.
Keep in mind, mine dust level have decline over the years. To the extent there has been a small uptick in CWP claims in recent years, the explanation is not clear. It could be a relatively new exposure in mines (e.g., granite dust) or over-diagnoses.