Anew epidemiological study adds to the growing body of scientific evidence that mountaintop removal coal mining is harmful to the health of nearby residents.
The studypublished last week in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology used dust samples from homes near a mountaintop removal site in West Virginia, as well as a control site far from mining in the eastern part of the state.
In a lab, researchers exposed both human lung cells and mice with tumors to the dust. The researchers—from West Virginia University and Indiana University—conclude that the mountaintop removal dust promotes lung cancer development and helps the disease progress quickly.
Indiana University professor Michael Hendryx is a co-author on the study, and has worked on many others that suggest negative health effects of mountaintop removal mining. He said this study is significant because it’s the first one with direct environmental data—the dust—that researchers have been able to link directly to lung cancer.
“The studies that we’ve done before have sometimes been criticized because they’re only these correlational studies—you know where people live, you know they’re at a higher risk for illness. But you don’t really know if there’s something about the environment that contributes to that risk or not,” he said.
“And now for the first time we have solid evidence that there really are environmental differences that relate to differences in cancer risk.”
Hendryx said the results of this recent study complement his previous research and should settle the question of whether mountaintop removal mining causes lung cancer.
“Personally, I think we’re at a point where we can say that,” he said. “I think if you look at the body of research from this study and from others that we’ve done, the types of changes that we see and the types of chemicals that we see in the dust and the epidemiological activity, if you put it all together, then I think that we’re at a point where we can say dust from mountaintop removal activity increases lung cancer among the people that live there.”
Cancer is complicated, and the causes of the disease are many. But Hendryx’s studies control for common risk factors like age and cigarette smoking. He said at this point, the research proves that mountaintop removal is not a safe practice and should be stopped.
“And there’s still this absolute silence from political leaders in the state and it’s time for them to step up to the plate and protect the health of their own citizens. I mean, enough is enough,” he said. “This activity kills people, and the politicians ignore it. And you can quote me on that.”
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-3, has introduced the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act for three years in a row, calling for a moratorium to mountaintop removal until the health effects are better understood. The legislation has yet to gain traction in committee.
Copyright 2014 89.3 WFPL News Louisville
