Toxic Tort Alert: NIOSH Releases Coal Dust and Emphysema Study
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has recently completed a study in which they conclude that "coal mine dust exposure is a significant predictor of emphysema severity." The study, reported in the August 1, 2009 issue of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, is most significant in the nearly six-fold increase in emphysema severity between non-smoking miners and non-smoking non-miners.
The study compared autopsy results from 722 individuals, including 616 coal miners and 106 non-coal miners. The coal miners were all employed prior to the institution of the 1972 coal dust standard, but the authors of the study conclude that current underground coal miners may have the same general level of cumulative dust burden as those miners in the study.
While this is not "new" science, it does tend to confirm earlier studies. Equally important, the authors suggest that the results support a reduction in the underground coal dust standard. Such a reduction would significantly impact the coal industry, not only in operational changes but in the potential for future worker related claims.
J. Greg Goodykoontz
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greg.goodykoontz@steptoe-johnson.com
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