Howard Berkes

Black Lung And Beasts Of The East, Inside Appalachia

This week, a new report finds the number of black lung cases is at its highest since the 1970s. The human cost is high. Also, the author of a new book says reintroducing nearly extinct animals back into the wild can boost damaged ecosystems, but they can't repair them. And, roadside attractions pay tribute to our enduring fascination with weird.

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Appalachia's Black Lung Rates Highest In Nearly 50 Years As Miners' Protections Stall

Rates are now as bad as the 1970s, with thousands of miners sick and dying. Mining experts blame toxic silica dust, now more common in mines.

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Encore: The Rise of Black Lung, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, black lung disease is back. In fact, it never went away. Now, younger and younger miners are living with a particularly nasty form of black lung disease. Regulators and the coal industry have known about the problem for decades — but they’ve been slow to respond. One reporter asks, “What would happen if thousands of workers in any other industry got sick and died just because of where they worked?”

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Celebrating A Tradition Of Poets And Discussing The Resurgence Of Black Lung, Inside Appalachia

This week on Inside Appalachia, Rev. George Mills Dickerson of Tazewell, Virginia was born in the years after slavery ended. He’s remembered today through his poetry. And a new wave of black lung disease is ravaging Appalachia. We’ll hear more from a black lung town hall in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Coal miners have their own thoughts about black lung, too.

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