Website Review and Summary: Black Lung
Michelle Hampton
HCS/457
January 30, 2012
Sally Kohls

Website Review and Summary: Black Lung Pneumoconioses, also known as Black Lung is a group of interstitial lung diseases caused by the inhalation of certain dusts and lung tissue’s reaction to the dust (CDC, 2011). It has been noted that the cases of Black Lung are workplace related, and rarely environmental. Black Lung has been prevalent throughout hundreds of years; therefore, the material available for research or the curious person are abundant. Websites are available on all three levels of government—local, state, and national; however it is noted that the more survey and statistical websites are found in the national databases. The local websites depicted information that was more for the enlightenment, rather than the enforcement of rules and regulations. Websites that were based on newspapers such as the Register-Herald and the Courier-Journal described stories of coal miners now suffering from Black Lung and what they face to come. They told stories instead of statistics and were written to be more personable to the reader. Stories that tend to pull at your heart strings bring more attention than those that are full of facts and figures. This is the beginning of an overlay between the different levels of government. State websites combine education with enlightenment. They provide the statistics with the stories to educate. It allows them to show the difference or indifference within their state compared to others. Websites such as West Virginia Public Broadcasting and Kentucky Coal Miners bring the reality of coal mining in West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky to light. They provide the statistics with the individual stories to show the growing problem that Black Lung has caused throughout the coal mining states. National websites follow