NIOSH Restarts DOGE-Hit Black Lung Screening

NIOSH’s mobile screen unit is back on the road in West Virginia and Maryland coal country after DOGE cuts put them on pause earlier this year.
Program spokesperson Tia McClelland confirmed the restart to local media last week.
“For too many miners, the nearest facility capable of diagnosing black lung is hours away, making early detection nearly impossible. With cases of black lung disease, especially the most severe forms, continuing to rise in Appalachia, it’s more important than ever that we are proactive in protecting miners’ health,” United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said in a statement last week.
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Researchers at the University of Connecticut found that one easy solution to help employees working in extreme heat stay cool is to wear more clothing with moisture-wicking technology, The Darien Times reported.
The study, conducted through the school’s Korey Stringer Institute, found that participants who had access to these body-cooling garments had lower core body temperatures and were more productive overall.
Research on extreme heat and outdoor laborers is still a growing field, despite the number of people working in these environments daily, said Cecilia Kaufman, director of the institute’s occupational safety and one of the study’s leads.
“We have tons of research in the athletic setting and in the military setting. But, I think, for a long time, that this general population was pushed to the side and not thought of as a potential population that could be affected by the heat,” she said.
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