The New Faces of Black Lung

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Black Lung is back The men of the Marcum family: the new face of Black Lung. PRESTONSBURG, Ky. - Black lung has killed more than 75,000 U.S. coal miners since 1968. Following passage of legislation in 1969, disease rates dropped significantly. Then, starting in the late 1990s, the trend reversed. Today, throughout the coalfields of Appalachia, in small community clinics and in government labs, it has become clear: Black lung is back, and it's affecting younger miners. Retired miner Ray Marcum, 83, doesn't have to look far to see the effects. For the past 30 years he's received a monthly check to compensate him for the disease that steals his breath. Then there's his middle son, Donald, who has had eight pieces of his lungs removed. And James, his youngest, whose doctor has already discussed hooking him up to an oxygen tank part-time. "No human being should have to go through the misery that dying of [black lung] entails," said Dr. Edward Petsonk, a pulmonologist in West Virginia. "It is like a screw being slowly tightened across your throat. Day and night towards the end, the miner struggles to get enough oxygen. It is really almost a diabolical torture."

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