Coal's Deadly Dust (full documentary) | FRONTLINE
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 เม.ย. 2021
- In this 2019 documentary, FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the rise of severe black lung disease among coal miners and the failure to respond.
This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Support your local PBS station here: www.pbs.org/donate.
Coal miners are dying from the resurgence of an epidemic that could have been prevented. FRONTLINE and NPR’s joint investigation revealed the biggest disease clusters ever documented, and how the industry and the government failed to protect miners.
Love FRONTLINE? Find us on the PBS Video App where there are more than 300 FRONTLINE documentaries available for you to watch any time: to.pbs.org/FLVideoApp
#Documentary #CoalsDeadlyDust
Subscribe on TH-cam: bit.ly/1BycsJW
Instagram: / frontlinepbs
Twitter: / frontlinepbs
Facebook: / frontline
Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Park Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen.
PBS frontline so underrated
Not really. Been famous for about 20 years now
I Love Frontline!!!
Not in my book.
I'm glad pbs never changed like the discovery Channel
@@mvtito2711 PBS is part of the Corp. for Public Broadcasting. Some of your tax dollars are paying for it. So it's not like for profit cable or streaming services.
The mic the journalist used did such a great job recording the voices of the sick miners, like almost too painful to listen to how difficult is was for them to breathe
I listened to that sound for 18 years. My grandfather was a miner for 44 years and died from black lung. It’s something you never forget.
You do what you have to do. Dang 😢. To watch a grown man cry breaks my heart. All they want is to make a living to support their family.
I live in West Virginia, and my grandfather was a coal miner and had black lung... He had to have 1 1/2 of his lungs taken out and lived roughly 10 years like that, with oxygen in use 24 hrs a day.... it was the saddest thing. He loved to hunt and fish. Then when he retired all he could do was set in the house.... I lost a lot of years worth of memories we could have made but instead all my memories are of use setting on the couch, couse he couldn't even walk to the bathroom without all most passing out from the lack of oxygen...... THIS IS A VERY SAD THING...... IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY GRANDFATHER......
I'm sorry about your grandpa. He worked so hard, then he got sick was his reward. I can tell how much you loved your grandpa. Please take care, love from California.
Sending you my condolences ❤
May u find Comfort!!! God Bless ur Grandfather
Wish u could sue 😡
The dire state of capitalism - when you keep using humans as fodder and cattle, exploiting their very lives and being for their labour.
Let me tell you about black lung. My Dad was a coal miner and at 42 with 20 years down in the mine. He died from black lung on Christmas eve of 1948, I was just 5 years old. He went down to the cellar to stoke the furnace and his lungs burst, with coughing up blood everywhere. The last thing I remember was he head cradled in my moms arms and lap as she cried her heart out. My older sister went hysterical crying and screaming.
Wow I’m sorry for you loss
😔💔
Sincerest condolences. That is a tragedy you can never get over. Every man in my family who worked in the mines died of/with black lung. Most passed before I was born. It's disgraceful that in this day and age this is still an ongoing issue.
I’m so sorry for your loss, and the trauma that surrounded it. I watched my grandfather die slowly from black lung, after 44 years in the mines.
I'm so sorry. That's unimaginably horrible.
This broadcast journalist is a goddamn legend. Good stuff.
God bless this man with the big heart when he cried over the suffering of these men. It’s good to know there are good people who really care.
I'm glad these folks have Dr. Carson to take care of them. (He cares so much for people.) God bless him, and his patients.
That is a true angel right there and I bet he's not getting paid enough for his work...
@@olchat2012 the best ones (like him) you could never pay them enough. I feel so bad for these miners who work their whole lives, and get so sick.
@@francisphillips53 Miners give their lives to support their families and it would only makes sense that, in a better world, the mine owners would take beter care of them. Mine owners are some of the richest people on earth. It breaks my heart when kids see dad slowly dying and eventually lose their father at an early age.
@@olchat2012 yes it is 😢😢😢😢
Indeed. A truly empathic man🙏🏽
My grandfather was electrocuted and killed in an an underground mine in 1979. The company paid part of his pension to my grandmother for 20 years then she was left with nothing but social security and died penniless. My father was a above ground(strip miner) and the company laid him off after 9 years and change, just months short of the 10 years required for a pension. These companies don't give 2 shits about the men that die for their profits.
This is why we NEED regulation of big corporations they will literally take your life to make money!
Or just stop mining coal . We don’t need it anymore
@@kimjongun5172 we kind of need it. We need time to convert coal plants or replace them.
@@jjones2509 maybe the USA. My country stopped being coal dependent 20 years ago...
@@kimjongun5172 size of your country?
NEVER going to happen. They pay to play in politics & legislation.
This video has been in my watch list for awhile but I couldnt bring myself to watch it till today because I just lost both of my parents to lung disease, they were only 70 and 71 so it physically hurts up see these young men who have unknowingly sacrificed their lives to keep this country running. Thank you for keeping such real, hard hitting coverage of our everyday people
These injured coal miners need to bring a class action lawsuits against the companies that injured them.
Their stories break my heart.
That CEO " Soulless" Drawn Smirk to not confront the question. Can't say Silica.
@@fredthompson4568 exactly 😡
One of the problems is a worker in this kind of trade darn near signs their life away the day they get hired. No signature, no job. Unions are supposed to be the stewards to prevent this sort of thing.
Doing that. Would kill out what's left. We need electricity, and they need jobs. Not only that, Obama and Biden took these jobs away because they have an agenda. Trump got them back so Biden took them away.
If they ever do this we're all screwed.
most of the sick or injured miners die before they get their case settled. they have been abused and used then thrown away. these cases are hard to fight and I mean hard. so many just gave up the fight. still love bloody harlan. I will stand by all miner till I die and I never set foot in one. family made damn sure of that 50 or so years ago. not a cousin, nor uncles had to. they watched their dads, grandfathers and family die in front of them. they said "no more" some do keep their words. I would have loved to listen to their stores instead of it all having to be passed down. God bless a miner
Absolutely heartbreaking. Especially when you hear rhetoric about providing jobs for miners.
Great you open mines for them to work in but you don't take care of them and leave them to die painful deaths gasping for air. Just so you can save money that could save their lives.
Absolutely disgusting.
My grandfather died of black lung,that caused cancer in his throat. Heart breaking!
💔
I'm sorry about your grandpa.
Sad 💔
My grandpa didn't die from the black lung but it greatly affected from when he got it through the rest of his life, he died of a stroke before black lung could get him. He was a black coal miner a very long time ago in the now closed Pratt Mine of Birmingham Alabama. My dad was born and raised in "Pratt City" a neighborhood in Birmingham that actually still exists but it used to be a "company town" NOT a neighborhood. The mining company owners owned EVERYTHING. The stores, the houses, it was obscene. They got very very rich off of the hard work and suffering of many men over the years then closed it down and rode off into the sunset. Pratt City is still an impoverished neighborhood today, with all the added modern problems like drugs and violence. "Robber barons" is all I think when I think of the owners of these companies that do nothing to protect their workers or the problems they leave in their wake.
@@ajack1889 I feel ya,man. My grandfather didn’t die of black lung. He died of esophageal cancer. A lot of men that got rich are dead now,and all of those mines are scheduled to collapse. I hope they didn’t build anything important on top if them.
What a beautiful soul this doctor has for his patients. Bravooooo for being a compassionate doctor!!!!!
30 years in residential remodeling, the hidden danger of Asbestos does the same thing. The people with the money don't care about laborers. No treatment, no cure and we brought it home on our clothes and bodies to share with our families and friends. Thanks for the protection OSHA
I'm an AHERA certified Asbestos Abatement Contractor and Supervisor and I concur.
This is so sad. These guys don't deserve to suffer like this. Something has to be done
It requires some type of government intervention and sadly these people vote against their own self interest. There are those doctors, nurses, respiratory therapist that try to give these guys longer lives, but in the end they just die off sadly. It's easy to say quit the job but where would they go. They need retraining and it up to them to find where they can get a low cost retraining or free from the state. I wish it was that simply, but it isn't sadly. For some capitalism where renewable energy and natural gas is closing coal plants which is saving some lies sadly. Still once you get diagnosed with the advanced black lung, it's progressive meaning their situation is not going to get any better.
What I’m wondering - how many of the coal industry executives and state representatives would send their own children down in the mines? Do they think it’s safe? I think the answers speak for themselves...
Please, please keep what you are doing Frontline
*Thanks for your feedback, stock market has kept many on suspense from My prospective. I'll advise you investing in cryptocurrency is a wise choice. Regarding making millions profit in it, For more guidance.* .W..H..A..T..S..A..P..P.
+=1=6=1=4=9=1=8=0=2=6=5..…
When corporate profits are top priority, the earth is desecrated and people are disposable.
Just found this the doctors tears were from the heart as I am a 24 yr mining veteran coughing and feeling like I am going to pass out love the life and brotherhood
I had a fly-by-night company set up next to my shop and they did all kinds of cutting of "marble" (mostly fake) countertops and it was filling my shop with this awful white dust. I tried talking to them, telling their workers about silicosis, etc. Finally the guy confronted me and threatened me physically. I told him, "You are trying to destroy my business. I will destroy yours". I got every G.D. inspector and regulatory body involved that I could. It was hot 'n' cold running inspectors. And eventually I hounded the guy out of here. It was him or me. I was going to leave and got be homeless where the air's clean rather than get all that white crap in my lungs. As it is, the air's filthy here in Silicon Valley and I can't wait to get to retirement in a few years and get out of here.
My grandfather was a coal miner for 44 years and had to retire because of black lung. He died the day after my 18th birthday, in 1978. They didn’t have respiratory therapy programs like they do now. He never left his recliner, except to eat or use the bathroom. He often slept there, and when he did actually sleep in bed, he slept almost upright in order to breathe.
Who thumbs downed this video...? The guy who needed his picture taken 🤦♀️...?
Shareholders in coalmines...?
@@oneshothunter9877 💯
🤔
Whenever i get too happy I can always count on Frontline to make me depressed. 😔
So why do you watch it?
@@irate74 because Frontline is one of the best shows on tv. duh
Or make me grateful. My job or life isn that bad afterall. Low pay, but wth.
Coal dust is not a Deadly Secret it literally blackened the Skies of England. Anyone who doesn't realize this dust with Cole has got two already have brain damage
Coal union signed up for green energy recently. They want it. Good sign. These people need help and they need it now. Let’s fund some infrastructure and include green energy projects for gods sake.
They have no choice. The coal industry has been dying for a while. But, yes, these people need help! They worked to provide for their families and helped build the country through their work.
Who’s gonna pay?
@@RoCK3rAD People who need electricity.
@@RoCK3rAD
Who is gonna pay for what? You can bet it won’t be the millionaires and billionaires..they don’t contribute anything to American taxes. So it will be on the back of what is left of the middle class. Why does Amazon pay 0 in taxes? Oh right, because the Republican Party in 2017 made that LAW
@@suburbanwoman6280 You obviously understand nothing about taxes. Corporate America pays no taxes because those corporations pass those tax hikes into increasing the prices that the people pay at the counter or on the web. Look this fact up: the top 1% of America’s richest pay about 95% of all federal income tax.
Silica dust is deadly. Years ago I used to do a lot of sandblasting using silica sand. The dust it created was so fine, no mask or respirator helped.
my grandfather was a iron miner. he died at 46 of silicosis. thanks for the upload.
I watched as my stepfather Died of Mesothelioma. It tore my heart out every time he coughed.
Caused by asbestos exposure coupled with smoking, a deadly disease. Sad and totally preventable when a person is aware of what he's exposed to.
It hurt to watch these men suffer so much. And the cooperate indifference while not surprising pisses me off.
*Thanks for your feedback, stock market has kept many on suspense from My prospective. I'll advise you investing in cryptocurrency is a wise choice. Regarding making millions profit in it, For more guidance.* .W..H..A..T..S..A..P..P.
+=1=6=1=4=9=1=8=0=2=6=5.…
Black lung killed my great grandpa. Same problem these guys are facing today. More lip service. No action.
PBS does the work that federal regulating authorities should be doing.
20:54 I love this bit, the surprise NPR reporter and PBS camera crew... a corporate official's worst nightmare
Great story.. great show to create awareness of this solvable problem
Welp, Dr. Carson made me weep 😭
Thanks u frontline. Love that way gets to the true so professional
Why didn't the industry do something about this problem while it was taking place in the past? Answer, they were quite overwhelmed by how much they were profiting.
And Republicans always passing laws that protect corporations from being held accountable of inhumane practices.
@@bokani79 Riiiiight....too busy making corporations as “ people “. And those are the only people they gaf about
Money
As someone who grinds concrete floors for a living, I understand the benefits of respirators . Even a handkerchief is better than nothing. Our company provides them, but only 25% use them given the choice to wear.
Exactly. That’s why it happens. People don’t wear their PPE. This is very one sided.
13:02 the price these men have to pay isn’t worth it anymore.
The end where the reporter even started to choke up really hit me.
*Thanks for your feedback, stock market has kept many on suspense from My prospective. I'll advise you investing in cryptocurrency is a wise choice. Regarding making millions profit in it, For more guidance.* .W..H..A..T..S..A..P..P.
+=1=6=1=4=9=1=8=0=2=6=5..…
5 seconds into this documentary and it's already a damn shame
Doctors that care, the best kind.
The romanticization of the coal industry by those who are exploited by it is very puzzling.
ABSOLUTELY
Frontline please....More....MORE!
We all know why the industry refused proposed protections. Profits. Corporations are a machine, and once it chews you up there's another one right behind you waiting for your spot.
Sounds like there may need to be another wildcat strike! These miners deserve better!!
And how can we do that? They already enjoy the highest standard of living of any miner on the planet and more people die every day from sugar than die all year from black lung
They all worked in non union jobs
@@seanabernethy5345 what? I thought they were union jobs...Dayuuuuuuum
@@greenearthblueskies8556 I checked those mines are all non union
Umwa is dying and these people don't believe in unions anymore.
Thankyou for the video..really good info
Life is hard. We must appreciate even a slightest breath. 🙏
Frontline is the best news program on the planet!
They don't have a tv station which is sad
@@ek6764: Frontline is PBS.
When people say America is the land of opportunity, what they are really saying is yes, you have a chance to become rich, but are you willing to achieve those riches at the expense of other people's lives?
Of course the corporations are willing to achieve those riches at the expense of other people’s lives. Profits before people has always been their motto. Unregulated capitalism is not capitalism at all.
Unfortunately that question is to often answered with a yes
@@ginariffe5525 what we have is capitalism with a sprinkle of public and corporate socialism. What is happening on the docu is true capitalism, cutthroat, ruthless, and unregulated. The mindset of those mine bosses is if they don't do it there competitors will.
That is so true. Well said..
Opportunity to become dirt-poor and homeless, USA is a shithole. People's perception of the US is like 50 years out of date.
I grew up in southwest Virginia and mine workers called it " rocks in the box."
That was in the 1960s.
May God bless those working in mines,true American heroes.
Incredible episode.
Where I live in Central Texas they are putting wind generators up all around us. I have 600 watts of solar power at my house. It came in really handy when we lost power during the Great Blizzard back in February. We need to leave all of that filth in the ground where it belongs and that includes oil.
Frontline makes me feel so safe at night
Frontline does such wonderful investigative work that the mainstream media often ignores. Awful seeing that man so upset. How depressing it has to be only 47 and be stricken down with a debilitating diseases due to the Coal industry and regulator’s indifference.
I have COPD & chronic bronchitis this breaks my heart, I had to quit the job that I absolutely loved to do I used to work on 2 turkey farm's.
I have to take a picture .I can't discuss the issue about minors dying. Typical money over problems
These people were always this way...and miners knew it.
Are there not any type of industrial masks that protect from such toxic dust?
Yes.. but after awhile, they get saturated with moisture.. and hard to work in.
It costs money. These companies won't spend one extra penny if they don't have to.
@@wystearya4347 yeah, this isn’t true at all. They have to supply the PPE to all employees.
Coal mining goes on in many countries in Europe and the countries and companies do so much more for the workers there to help prevent this terrible stuff from happening.The way these workers were treated is beyond disaster and companies and this country should have to pay and help these families.
It seems that the regulatory agency, miners, coal executives are aware of the problem and is sympathetic to the miners yet for some reason their is no progress being made. This is maddening to observe and makes me want to think that the coal mining companies are cognizant of the hazard and are willing to accept it as a cost of doing business. Sort of like going to war knowing that you will lose 20% of your troops and is considered an acceptable price to pay for success. Those poor young men were used, plain and simple. They probably had very little or no other opportunity to find work and they were thrown lots of money and perks but didn't realise the heavy price they would be paying. We really need to get off of coal as the coal mining companies and the regulators are unwilling to make needed changes to prevent this disease from infecting the miners.
Thank you to all the coal miners! This is eye opening and horrible!
Dang bo you a real hard working American 🇺🇸
God bless you sir
Just one more reason why we should go to universal health care and why Congress's healthcare covg. should be held hostage until we do or until they give us the same plan as we pay for them to enjoy. Simple choice for this disabled Public Health Nurse.
i have seen several people getting this disease, the only way to cure is to change lung and probably one lung will not work and need to find another one.
PBS FRONTLINE very truthful
Can someone please donate the man a battery powered lawnmower.. Breathing in fumes from an old lawnmower in the heat of the day would make a lot of people nauseous.. Hopefully he just cut the grass for the documentary, which was great.. I hope all these guys feel a little better (mentally & physically). This really sucks
It's the rock dusting that the mines add to the coal dust that could be part of it.
They say as much in the video. The thin coal seams require more rock to be cut and that creates silica dust which is cited in the video as some 20 times more dangerous.
Imagine these people contracting covid... damn.
Not to mention that this is a region where those who subscribe to vaccine conspiracy theories are probably higher than the national average. Also they tend to vote for the very same people who are largely *against* regulations of any kind.
This is journalism
He keeps hunting these lairs down, chasing with mic in hand. Yes
Making me feel fortune about having healthy lungs
May none of these people get covid.
Billions in tax payer supported subsidies over the last 100 years to big coal, who renigned on their responsibilities, yet, under any other circumstances, these same people would be charging the reporter with being 'fake.'😕
💯
Silica dust also exists in the steel industry. My dad died of black lung at the age of 43.
So this is my scared lungs.
Young sad god be with them I will pray.
Maybe god should have done something BEFORE their lungs were destroyed?!
@@geonerd he probably did they just didnt pay attention cuz they wanna feed their families
Coal is the absolute worst way to produce energy. Nobody in their right mind wants to be around where coal is mined or where coal is burned.
I wouldn’t even want to live in that state
This is what happens in Capitalism. You make the workers pay the price, exploit them, while most of the benefits go to someone else.
Basically
as opposed to communist organ harvesting of the random public? No wonder your icon is a bag over your head, I recommend you apply the icon to your daily fashion
@@BangBangBang. Yes one of the communist core principles is involuntary organ harvesting. I also heard they are fine with canabalism and they sometimes don't even have toilet paper.
What you think happens in communism or socialism
It’s even worse
Same crap .
It’s a double edged sword
When I was a kid in the Southwestern PA, literally every adult male I knew had black lung or some other mining injury. I thought it was normal for everyone to get black lung when they got older. My grandfather told us grandkids to go to college and stay the hell away from the mines. Best advice ever. He and several of my uncles died of black lung. On top of that, 2 of my uncles also had parts of their hands missing from mining accidents. Southwestern PA is littered with old company mining towns and they are all the same: rows of duplex houses, a Catholic church (most of the miners were from Italy or Eastern Europe) and a granite memorial of all the miners who were killed by the mine. People in other areas of the country have no idea the hell these people when through.
Does anyone know how Danny is doing
Are these the same communities begging to keep coal around? Someone square that circle for me?
he cared more about getting in a picture than helping the miners...
Whom ?
While I feel sorry for these families, I cant help but scratch my head in confussion. These people did this to themselves. Fighting against technology and arguing that coal development is the lifeblood of Appalachia. Hearing these stories highlights that coal has a real life consequence.
He engaged, he could say no comment but his guilt was shown from his fear of reporters. And reporters only go after wounded dogs. Coal mines? I can think of some issues Very important that reporters fear.
Head of Corporations don't care about safty 100% Even they know,They just need work done and make money.
I know exactly how that man feels. Sad
I worked in a factory where I would cut open and dump 50-100lb bags of silica dust into a mixer all day long. ☹
Big oof
Prayers, and please get yourself checked out.
@@staciasmith5162 thanks. I haven't got a primary doctor but I'm working on it. It's probably not related but these past few weeks I've been hit with a wall of exhaustion. I got some basic bloodwork done yesterday and it said my hemoglobin count was low. It's crazy to risk your physical health for minimum wage.
I used to work on a turkey farm I absolutely loved it I miss it alot but unfortunately I had to quit work on the turkey farm because if I didn't quit it would eventually kill me.
Jeremy Slawson - Turkeys don’t kill you.
@@vicshrily R u sure? I think mine have been plotting my demise for quite some time. Can never be too sure about these things of course
Frontline🙌🙌🙌
*Thanks for your feedback, stock market has kept many on suspense from My prospective. I'll advise you investing in cryptocurrency is a wise choice. Regarding making millions profit in it, For more guidance.* .W..H..A..T..S..A..P..P.
+=1=6=1=4=9=1=8=0=2=6=5..….…
Yo. Thankyou for the video and comments. I have yet to meet a miner that I cannot empathize with and respect. Thank you for all those days working in the darknest and dust. Some people doing it so long, to retirement. Those good parts driven by the fellowship around you at work.. Thanks so much for your career. Coal Miners. Salute. This nation is great because of you in so many ways.
How sad I feel like that doctor - all for us to have luxury.....
Individual accountability must be a part of this issue. Don’t expect others (mine owners, government regulators) to look out for you. The dangers around coal mining have been known for many decades. Acutely known by miners and those communities around mining areas. Let’s also hear the stories of would be miners, but for the risks involved. There are many people in those mountains that say no way am I working in that death trap. Life is full of sadness and consequences.
*Thanks for your feedback, stock market has kept many on suspense from My prospective. I'll advise you investing in cryptocurrency is a wise choice. Regarding making millions profit in it, For more guidance.* .W..H..A..T..S..A..P..P.
+=1=6=1=4=9=1=8=0=2=6=5..
I dont know how much these coal miners make a year but its not enough i have all the respect in the world for these miners and their families
Lol "cut production" ? Oh my welcome to Appalachia... I live and work production in Appalachia- it is all about get it done fast and A LOT of it! During the heights of covid we couldn't get a dust mask in any dusty factory BUT we were necessary workers so our lungs suffered. Y'all be seeing all kinds of respiratory illness 20yrs from now for all the dust we breathed in 2020 2021.
Yeah, nobody could get a N95 because they moved all the production to freaking China and the U.S. government bought what production there was and kept it for themselves just in case the pandemic turned out worse that it did.
Be nice if we could find a different ‘form’ of coal. Especially one that doesn’t hurt the workers
West Virginian coal miners were one of the first Americans to have bombs dropped on them for trying to unionize. The other Americans that had bombs dropped on them were in Tulsa Oklahoma.
*Thanks for your feedback, stock market has kept many on suspense from My prospective. I'll advise you investing in cryptocurrency is a wise choice. Regarding making millions profit in it, For more guidance.* .W..H..A..T..S..A..P..P.
+=1=6=1=4=9=1=8=0=2=6=5..
This is something
*Thanks for your feedback, stock market has kept many on suspense from My prospective. I'll advise you investing in cryptocurrency is a wise choice. Regarding making millions profit in it, For more guidance.* .W..H..A..T..S..A..P..P.
+=1=6=1=4=9=1=8=0=2=6=5..…
Coal miners are very hard workers
Are masks or other filtering devices not effective to stop the silica dust from being breathed in? Surprised this wss not mentioned.
It’s very effective. Guys don’t wear them. This is very one sided. It’s all supplied by the company.
If thats true, then this report is very one sided and those that didnt wear any protection were very foolish.
They most definitely need Mullen, it grows in cow pastures and on the sides of country roads.