 When I started in coal mining it was the reasons for a good living for my family and good benefits for when I retired and good hospitalization was the main factor and I never thought I'd get black lung. I was always trained to avoid injuries and I should have paid more attention to the dust. In the 1960s coal miners began to call for protection from the burden of serious health problems and disabling injuries that were the result of mining. Following the tragic explosion at the Farmington No. 9 mine in 1968 the United States Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed into law the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. That law provided a number of important protections for underground coal miners including limits on dust exposure and establishment of a medical program called the Coal Worker's Health Surveillance Program. This health monitoring program is operated by NIOSH, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown, West Virginia. Miners who participate in the program receive health evaluations once every five years at no cost to themselves. Most X-rays can detect the early signs and changes in Coal Worker's pneumoconiosis, commonly called black lung disease, often before the miner is aware of any lung problems. In the 25 years since the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act became law, the proportion of miners with black lung disease has gone down by about 90 percent. But the downward trend of this disease in coal miners has stopped. In the last 10 years, the rates of black lung cases have almost doubled. Currently about 42,000 men and women are working in our nation's underground coal mines. Of course, the mining and production of coal is an important component of our national economy. Unfortunately, in the last decade over 10,000 of these miners have died of Coal Worker's pneumoconiosis or what is commonly called black lung disease. It's an undeniable fact that many current underground miners are developing severe and advanced cases of black lung disease. As we continue to mine coal, it is important for us to better understand how to protect our miners from this deadly and devastating disease. You're about to hear from two men, both of whom develop severe cases of black lung in their 50s. You'll see that black lung is not confined to old age. In fact, we're seeing cases now in men as young as in their 30s. These men want to share their stories with you. It is our hope that by seeing how black lung changed their lives, you can prevent it from affecting yours. My name is Chester Fike. I'm 55 years old. My dad was a coal miner. He made a good living for our family. That probably interested me to get into the coal mines more than anything else. I wanted to make a good living for my family so to provide for them as much as I possibly could. I've been a coal miner for 35 years. In 24 years, I've been a continuous miner operator. I've done a few years of dead work, out by work, but most of it's been a continuous miner worker. My family is the most important part to me. 27 years ago, I figured out that I had black lung. That made a big impact on my family, my friends. Today now, I can't do what I used to do, my hobbies, hunting. We raise Christmas trees. I can't do what I did. Probably another year, I'm probably not even going to be able to do that. I was first informed by Niles through their program that I had black lung. From then on, I've been getting doctors help. It's progressive black lung. If it don't stop in the next year, he's going to put me on a waiting list for a black lung. It's about a year and a half waiting list. We're hoping that it'll level out before the year is over with, but if it don't, we'll be waiting for a lung. The company I worked for was real good about my part 90. They brought me to the outside and they couldn't give me a lot of trouble or even tried to get rid of me, but they brought me to the surface and that's where I'm at today. It's starting to have a big impact on my life because it's hard for me to even take a walk with my family, let alone doing any exercise. Each day, it's getting tougher to work at the job, to get my job done. What I fear about most is my family, what they're going to be four or five years down the road, what it's going to be like for them. My first 10 or 15 years, that's probably where I got in trouble. I thought I was invincible. I thought there wasn't nothing that could stop me. That's where you need to catch the younger generation, the first 10, 15 years. It's not good. If it can just get out to the younger generation, if we can just help one person, it sure would be worth it. I was a coal miner for 28 years. My coal mining started when I was 1971 and the reason was I got out of the Army. I'd been in the Army three years and the government was paying half of our salary at the time and we could, the companies was hiring. My first experience at really getting a clean mines to work at was, I worked at a mine on top of a mountain, what to call a hilltop mountain mining. It's not much cover over it, but it's mineable. It was 10 foot high, the miner had a big scrubber on it and it worked very, very good, very good. That job didn't last though, that's six weeks and they transferred me to, it was their other mines which was only 28 inches high. That's where my troubles I guess at the end of my career really built up on me was that the 28 inches was mineable with the miner that I was operating and it had a 28 inch head on it. But the other equipment, the prior center and the pin-up machine had to have clearance. So that's when we started cutting 10 inches of rock. I never thought about the X-rays, I never thought about taking care of myself. It was taking care of the family, it's the big job. We had to take fiscals for the mines for insurance purposes and that's after 26 years I actually found out that I had severe silicosis and black lung. The lungs has worn my heart out and I've got congestive heart failure and the one side is good but the other side is where my battle is at. Now I'm battling two diseases and it's rough. The impact it had on my family has been devastating. I don't get to travel, I don't get to play with the grandkids, I don't get to be with my son and my daughter the way I want to be on trips and what have you with the family and family outings. It's hard to go to a family reunion when you're sitting there with a tank of oxygen and nobody wants to talk to you because they know you can't talk. You run out of oxygen pretty fast. My advice to all young sisters and brothers that's going into coal mining, take care of yourself. Once you're X-rays and follow them up and when they tell you it's bad, just get out and that's just the way life is, you've got to take care of yourself. And I'm just 58 and this is the way it is and it's going to be until something happens. Think about your family, think about the things you want to do and always remember what's on your face you can wash off but what's on your lungs you can't and that's the number one thing. You'll be safe and take care of yourself. With the support of Emsha, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, NIOSH is helping to protect coal miners from this devastating black lung disease by operating a mobile health screening program. This mobile unit is traveling to mining regions around the United States. Miners are notified in advance about the specific locations where the mobile unit will be stationed and are encouraged to make appointments to participate in the health screening process. These programs protect the health of the miners only if they participate. Miners can only develop black lung disease if they breathe in too much dust. Each miner needs to work to minimize their exposure to dust. Co-operators are required under the law to adhere to the dust standards. This mining industry has the necessary tools to control respirable dust. If each miner insists that effective dust controls are conscientiously applied and dust levels are accurately monitored, we will be one step closer to a time when miners and their families will no longer have to suffer the crippling effects of black lung disease. Black lung can be stopped but this will only happen when every person who works in the coal industry subscribes to the goal of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. The first priority and concern of all in the coal mining industry must be the health and safety of its most precious resource, the miner. My advice to all young sisters and brothers that's going into coal mining, take care of yourself. Once a year, X-rays and follow them up and always remember what's on your face you can wash off but what's on your lungs you can't.