Attempts to block new standards for exposure to silica dust highlight
tensions between public health and corporate power in America’s fracking
boom.
Let me tell you an outrageous yet all-too-common tale of how public health
science is politicized to serve powerful interests. There are many poison pills
attached to a recent funding bill passed by a U.S. Senate committee, but none
taste as bitter to scientists and advocates of worker safety as a provision that
would prevent the government from protecting workers from exposure to silica
dust.
Silica dust is created through construction, mining and other industries that grind down rock, concrete, masonry and sand. Over-exposure to the dust causes an irreversible scarring of the lungs called silicosis. Approximately 2.2 million American workers are exposed to this hazard, and this contributed to the death of 1,437 Americans from silicosis between 2001 and 2010.
It also leads to other diseases. The U.K. Health and Safety Executive estimates that around 600 British people die each year from lung cancer associated with silica dust exposure. Yet with the proper equipment, this disease is completely preventable. We don’t need one single death. Not one.
Silica dust is created through construction, mining and other industries that grind down rock, concrete, masonry and sand. Over-exposure to the dust causes an irreversible scarring of the lungs called silicosis. Approximately 2.2 million American workers are exposed to this hazard, and this contributed to the death of 1,437 Americans from silicosis between 2001 and 2010.
It also leads to other diseases. The U.K. Health and Safety Executive estimates that around 600 British people die each year from lung cancer associated with silica dust exposure. Yet with the proper equipment, this disease is completely preventable. We don’t need one single death. Not one.
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