lung | ISHN

Black lung benefits go paperless

Deadline is Friday

February 27, 2013

Like other recipients of direct federal payments, black lung beneficiaries and medical providers must begin receiving their benefits by direct deposit or prepaid debit card by Friday, March 1.

Risk of lung cancer death among women rises dramatically

“If women smoke like men, they will die like men”

February 18, 2013

Female smokers have a much greater risk of death from lung cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) in recent years than did female smokers 20 or 40 years ago, reflecting changes in smoking behavior according to a Special Article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Why you should test your home for radon

Elevated radon levels found in roughly 1 in 15 homes nationwide

January 16, 2013

The EPA has a message for you: test your home for radon, fix the problem if you find one – and possibly save your life. As part of National Radon Action Month, the EPA is urging the public to test homes for high levels of the colorless, odorless gas but dangerous gas.

People exposed to WTC toxic fumes showing improvement in lung function

December 10, 2012

New health research gives hope to workers and residents exposed to toxic dust and fumes after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. A study finds that some of those people have shown gradual improvement in lung function, indicating that airway injury is reversible in at least some cases.

Stigma of ‘smokers’ disease’ stifles fight against no. 1 killer, lung cancer

About 15 percent of lung cancer cases are in people who never smoked

Bridget Huber

November 19, 2012

Lung cancer takes more lives than any other cancer. This year it will kill an estimated 160,340 Americans – more than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined. Yet while lung cancer remains largely a death sentence — just 15.9 percent of those diagnosed are alive five years later — the federal government funds far less research on the disease than on other common cancers.

Asbestos, shift work boost work-related cancer deaths in Britain

June 21, 2012

A new study finds that 5 percent of all cancer deaths in Britain – approximately 8,000 deaths each year --are linked to occupations, particularly those where asbestos, diesel engine fumes or shift work is involved.

Exposure to diesel exhaust linked to lung cancer death in miners

March 6, 2012

In a study of non-metal miners in the United States, federal government scientists reported that heavy exposure to diesel exhaust increased risk of death from lung cancer.

EPA urges homeowners to act during National Radon Month

21,000 Americans die from radon related lung cancer each year

January 4, 2012

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging Americans this month, as part of National Radon Action Month, to take simple and affordable steps to test their homes for harmful levels of radon gas.

GOP tries to block coal dust rule

December 16, 2011

The appropriations bill package under consideration by the House contains a provision that prevent the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing a key provision in its campaign to End Black Lung, a disease which claimed the lives of 10,000 coal miners in the last decade.

Iraq/Afghanistan war vets suffering from new respiratory condition?

Researchers propose name for diagnosis

September 16, 2011

Many soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan have a newly recognized condition that leads to the need for lung function testing, reports a paper in the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.