According to official data, there are over 14 thousand new cases of “black lung disease” (pneumoconiosis) every year, but Xinhua says that there are many more. Prevention is lacking. Treatment is long and expensive, and many mining companies refuse to for pay it.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Lung disease kills three times more people than mining disasters in Chinese mines. A national conference on security in the workplace in Beijing on November 9, sounded the alarm about these diseases, slow to materialize, but deadly to people who spend a lifetime at the bottom of a mine.  

Nel 2009 i dati ufficiali parlano di 2.700 minatori cinesi vittime di incidenti e disastri. Si calcola che i morti per pneumoconiosi, o "morbo nero del polmone", siano stati oltre 8mila. Secondo l'agenzia Xinhua, corrispondono a oltre il 40% delle malattie nel Paese per ragioni di lavoro.

Esperti ritengono che il dato reale sia persino maggiore, dato che la cifra comprende solo le diagnosi ufficiali.

In 2009 the official figures spoke of 2,700 Chinese miners victims of accidents and disasters. It is estimated that deaths from pneumoconiosis or "black lung disease", are more than 8 thousand. According to Xinhua, this figure corresponds to more than 40% of work related disease in the country.

Experts believe the real figure is even higher, since the data includes only those officially diagnosed.

Zhang Ming, vice president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the only state union, says that in 2009 there were 14,495 new cases of pneumoconiosis, but the same Xinhua notes that many more patients are considered to go undiagnosed, because the progression of the disease is slow and gradual.

In October in Urumqi more than 60 miners were sent to hospital to for “lung wash” treatment. 48 bottles of black water (see photo) was removed from the lungs of one of the miners, Long Huaiwen, 51, even if he has not been in a mine since 2004, after working for 16 years in the county of Baicheng (Xinjiang) .

Long considered it a lucky accident, because pneumoconiosis is considered an incurable disease, after it has affected and reduced breathing capacity. The only useful treatment is the bronchoalveolar lavage to remove the dust from the lungs, but the treatment must be repeated several times and each operation costs over 12 thousand Yuan, more than a year's salary. Often small and medium-sized companies refuse to pay for treatment for miners when they show the first symptoms, denying that it is a work related disease. Zhang Haichao, made headlines last year when the construction worker of 28 underwent a voluntary operation to open his chest to show that he was suffering from pneumoconiosis, after working for years in a abrasive materials factory in Xinmi (Henan), for a company that does not recognize the illness.

Zhang Baoming, chairman of China for the Security of Employment and Health notes that in recent years many mines have improved the equipment to protect against dust, but others take no precautions.

"Our work - he said –to prevent work related diseases in the coal industry is very difficult due to the rapid increase in demand for coal in the country, where production is increasing every year."  

• China
• mine
• work
• safety
• disease
• prevention
• human
• rights
• miners
• death
• black
• lung