Natural Resources or Human Life?

Discussion in 'World Events' started by Psycho-Cannon, Jun 25, 2003.

  1. Psycho-Cannon Home grown and Psycho Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    744
    Which is more important in your opinion?
    In the opinion of the current US Administration and Big business not suprisingly its Natural Resource, in this case Coal etc.

    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jun2003/coal-j25.shtml

    US: New coal dust standards mean increased black lung for miners

    The Bush administration is proposing changes to safety measures for coal miners that will result in the additional deaths of hundreds if not thousands of miners from black lung each year.

    Under the new rules, which are set to be finalized and take effect later this year, mines will be allowed to quadruple the level of coal dust that miners breathe from the current level of 2 milligrams per cubic meter to 8 milligrams.

    The breathing of coal and rock dust causes black lung, the common name given to the lung diseases pneumoconiosis and silicosis. An excruciatingly painful and deadly disease, black lung killed more than 55,000 miners between 1968 and 1990 and more than 1,000 miners still die each year. Another 112,000 miners receive black lung benefits, but these numbers underestimate the extent of the disease, since government workers compensation laws have been changed to make it more difficult for miners to prove they have black lung and thus qualify for benefits

    The change in coal dust standards is being spearheaded by MSHA Assistant Secretary Dave Lauriski. In keeping with Bush administration policy of moving corporate officials into government positions where they directly oversee the industry they came from, Lauriski is a former manager of a mining company.

    In 1997, while a mine operator, Lauriski pushed hard to loosen dust-control rules in the mines. At the time, he advocated the use of personal respirators instead of dust control in mines. While acknowledging that such measures are against the law, he wrote a 41-page argument for why and how the government should get around the law. One of the provisions of the current changes will allow the use of personal respirators.

    Since the imposition of the dust standard, the number of deaths has declined, but not to the levels that it should have. Britain has a much lower level of black lung among its miners. The difference has been attributed to the common knowledge that US companies and safety inspectors routinely cheated on these tests,

    Miners routinely reported that they were threatened with firing if they brought up a failed dust test.


    Just another move that really makes me sad to see that they want to strip away everything that guarnatees the environment and even Human life in the name of Profit to line the pockets of the higher ups.
     

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