Coal mine dust causes a range of lung diseases, collectively called coal mine dust lung diseases. Examples include coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP, a dust-induced scarring lung disease commonly called black lung), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung function impairment. All of these cause substantial morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) among affected coal miners.[1–5] Most attention in the U.S. has focused on CWP, especially its most severe stage called progressive massive fibrosis. [6–8] Unfortunately, this has overshadowed the burden of other diseases that occur in coal miners. New research finds that coal miners are also at increased risk of death
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