Appalachia's black lung rates highest in nearly 50 years as miners' protections stall

Rates are now as bad as the 1970s, with thousands of miners sick and dying. Mining experts blame toxic silica dust, now more common in mines.

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2501x1668+0+0/resize/2501x1668!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4f%2F04%2F6424ec914487b1fb98ceaf11b878%2F072626-npr-black-lung-assignment-3734-3x2.jpg' alt='Like many miners with advanced black lung disease, Tim Balthis looks healthy, sitting with his wife Fran Balthis on their porch in Pound, Va. But a scan of his lungs shows so much fibrotic tissue a doctor told Balthis he was surprised he was still alive.'/><p>Rates are now as bad as the 1970s, with thousands of miners sick and dying. Mining experts blame toxic silica dust, now more common in mines.</p><p>(Image credit: Roger May for NPR)</p><img src='https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5894884' />