Report: More should be done in researching, monitoring black lung disease

Black lung, or coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, is caused by inhaling coal dust and can be fatal. Dust exposure has also been linked to lung cancer and emphysema. The report primarily delves into ways to control respirable coal mine dust, or RCMD, which can cause black lung disease when workers are exposed to it. Despite a number of federal regulations starting in 1969, the disease has only increased in the past two decades.