Home / Top News Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read | Comment
Lung Disease Proves Top Occupational Killer
Adjust font size:

A lung disease common among workers in the mining and cement industries is the nation's top occupational killer, according to the latest government statistics.

Since the 1950s, a total of 677,000 people have been diagnosed with occupational diseases, more than 90 percent of which were pneumoconiosis cases, said Su Zhi, an official with the Ministry of Health.

Excluding Shaanxi and Tibet, 11,000 new occupational disease cases were reported last year, with pneumoconiosis accounting for 76 percent, Su said.

"The proportion of pneumoconiosis cases was 1.44 percentage points higher than in 2005 and the latency period of the disease was shorter," he said.

Miners and cement industry workers develop pneumoconiosis by breathing in coal and cement dust. The disease may take several decades to manifest itself, but it is deadly, said Li Tao, an official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to Su, 23 percent of pneumoconiosis cases had latent periods of less than 10 years.

He said the coal mining, non-ferrous metal miners and construction industries were the three most dangerous, causing 41 percent, 13 percent and 6.5 percent of total work-related illnesses last year.

He also noted that 621 pneumoconiosis cases reported last year were found to involve workers under the age of 18.

The ministry vowed to strengthen supervision of coal mining, as well as pharmacy and pesticide production this year, hoping to bring millions of migrant workers exposed to the risk of occupational disease into the health care network.

Apart from lung disease, coal mine accidents kill 17 workers every day on average in China, a fatality rate much higher than in India, for example.

(Xinhua News Agency May 1, 2007)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Comment
Pet Name
Anonymous
China Archives
Related >>
- US$5 Mln Raised for Coal Miners with Black Lung
- US$5 Million to Treat Black Lung Disease
- Lung Diseases Rank 1st in Occupational Hazards
- Doctors Allied to Combat Lung Diseases
- Lung Cancer Cases: Numbers Rising
Most Viewed >>
- Shanghai fuel oil futures jump 3.14%
- Fuel shortage as crude oil prices rocket
- CNOOC's 2 oil and gas fields start production in Bohai Bay
- More oil futures products needed
- Promoting civil servants
- New endeavor to build a harmonious world
- Chinese Oil Refining Business Under Pressure
- Will Raising Processed Oil Prices Push Up the CPI?
- Fuel oil futures trading robust
- Scientists seek keys to urban development

Product Directory
China Search
Country Search
Hot Buys