It’s been pretty well
established that mountaintop removal is bad for the health of the folks who
live around the mines. Mountaintop mining kicks up a lot of dust, and many of
the ailments that afflict those who live close to the mines is directly related
to inhaling coal dust or silica associated with the mines.
Well,
it turns out that recent research indicates that the ultrafine dust from the
mines can make people sick, too. This is dust so small that you cannot see it.
It is so small that it can pass through the incredibly small holes in the cell
walls of living tissue. Once the dust enters the cell through the cell wall,
inflammation occurs, and inflammation can lead to a number of ailments.
Lab
research backs this up. In one case, rats exposed to dust composed of titanium
oxide, the white pigment in paint, suffered no ill effect. If the titanium
oxide dust was very, very small, the rats died.
 |
| This mine can make you very sick. |
If
these particles are so small they can pass through the pores of cells, they are
too small to be stopped by dust masks or other prophylactic devices. On the
other hand, getting rid of these ultrafine dust particles in Appalachia is
pretty simple. End mountaintop removal.
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