From explosions to black lung: a history of efforts to control coal mine dust

Highlights in the history of efforts to prevent occupational lung disease among coal miners in the United States are reviewed. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 is summarized, and the sources and effects of its provisions to prevent coal workers' pneumoconiosis are examined. Descriptions follow of the identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis as a disease, identification of respirable coal mine dust as its cause, and establishment and enforcement of an exposure limit. The development of prevention efforts focusing on surveillance of both exposure and outcome and of enforcement of dust control methods is examined.

Victoria M. Trasko: champion of state-based surveillance of occupational diseases in the United States, 1937 to 1971

Victoria M. Trasko (1907-1979), a relatively unknown figure to many currently practicing occupational health specialists, was a pioneer in state-based surveillance of occupational diseases in the United States. To highlight her accomplishments during her career with the United States Public Health Service from 1937 to 1971, this report briefly reviews her publications on occupational disease surveillance. Her span of work includes guidelines for state industrial hygiene programs, numbers of workers in state occupational health programs, compilation of state and local laws related to industrial hygiene, proposals for standardized reporting of occupational disease, and analysis of trends in workers' compensation and mortality statistics for occupational diseases. She pilot tested the first state-based model system for occupational disease reporting in the United States. She documented the great difficulty experienced by states in getting physicians to report cases of occupational diseases, and pointed out that surveillance of other existing data sources was worthwhile, at least for some occupational diseases. She was the first to report on the distribution of silicosis cases in the United States by state, industry, and job title. She was the first to comment on mortality trends for the pneumoconioses and to document problems in comparability between different International Classification of Disease (ICD) periods.

Coal workers' pneumoconiosis: a historical perspective on its pathogenesis

The earliest observations on coal workers' pneumoconiosis identified fundamental factors and posed particular problems in its genesis. Among the former, intensity of exposure and particle size were recognized, while argument commenced on the roles of stone dust, thus anticipating the quartz question, and of complicating pulmonary states, which introduced the idea of infection. Major studies of the disease were precipitated by its greatly increased prevalence, which became evident among South Wales coal workers from the 1930s. The principal directions of enquiry remained the same as in Scotland a century before, namely the components of coal mine dust responsible for fibrosis and the additional factor required for the development of massive fibrosis. The combined human and experimental evidence now makes possible conclusions in which confidence may be placed.

Western miners and silicosis: "The scourge of the underground toiler," 1890-1943

This paper examines the history of silicosis in the mines of the western United States between 1890 and 1943. After establishing the seriousness of the health threat posed by the disease, the author describes the methods of prevention known to be effective during that period, the slow pace at which mine operators adopted those methods, and their campaign to defeat silicosis-compensation legislation in one western state, Arizona. Also described is the surprisingly passive role played in this controversy by the Western Federation of Miners. Finally, the author finds some empirical evidence of the Kerr-Siegel hypothesis, namely, silicosis may have been a “mass grievance” that helps to explain the violent labor history of the mining West.

Black lung: the social production of disease

The black lung movement that erupted in West Virginia in 1968 was not simply a struggle for recognition of an occupational disease; it grew into a bitter controversy over who would control the definition of that disease. This article examines the historical background and medical politics of that controversy, arguing that black lung was socially produced and defined on several different levels. As a medical construct, the changing definitions of this disease can be traced to major shifts in the political economy of the coal industry. As an occupational disease, the history of black lung is internally related to the history of the workplace in which it is produced. As the object of a mass movement, black lung acquired a political definition that grew out of the collective experience of miners and their families. The definition of disease with which black lung activists challenged the medical establishment has historical roots and justification; their experience suggests that other health advocates may need to redefine the diseases they hope to eradicate.

Richard Quiller Couch--an outstanding nineteenth century general practitioner

The boom in metal mining in the mid-nineteenth century produced a fearful mortality among miners. The history of this problem is described by the life and work of Mr R. Quiller Couch, a Cornish mine surgeon and general practitioner. He was a remarkable man and an outstanding general practitioner.

Pneumoconiosis in Chilean miners of the 16th century

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Letter: Sand pneumoconiosis in an egyptian mummy

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The Australian contribution to the history of the pneumoconioses

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