Respiratory Disease in Coal Miners

Abstract

LAST year the Social Security Administration disbursed more than $1 billion for "black lung" compensation. By way of comparison, for 1971 the total disbursement for all other industrial injury and illness for the entire US population covered by workmen's compensation laws was only $2.4 billion. Yet, there are around 120,000 working coal miners as compared to approximately 30 to 40 million other US workers covered by workmen's compensation laws. Nor can this disparity be explained by the fact that a disabled miner receives almost twice as much in compensation as does a disabled steelworker with silicosis. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, and the regulations that were put into effect as the result of the passage of this act, enabled any coal miner to qualify for "black lung" benefits provided he had (1) roentgenographic evidence of complicated pneumoconiosis (progressive massive fibrosis [PMF]); (2) simple pneumoconiosis in