Silicosis and Silica News
Gold miners to 'bring Anglo to book'
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Justin Brown | Johannesburg, South Africa
23 August 2004 14:35
Eight former South African gold miners and their families on Friday started a legal action in the Johannesburg High Court against the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa (Anglo), London-based solicitors Leigh, Day and Company said in a statement.
The test cases are seeking compensation for gold miners affected by silicosis and phthisis, which is a combination of silicosis and tuberculosis, and to establish a fund to monitor and treat occupational respiratory disease in former gold miners.
The fund will be a boost to the existing, under-resourced state health systems, the solicitors said. "I can confirm that Anglo received the documentation [of the lawsuit] on Friday. We don't believe that Anglo American is liable and we will defend the proceedings against us," Anglo spokesperson Anne Dunn said.
Silicosis results when a mineworker inhales crystalline silica dust, which may start a chain reaction that leads to a life-threatening inflammation of the lungs. Those industries that pose the greatest potential risk for worker exposure to silica are construction, mining, manufacturing and agriculture.
Sandblasters, foundry workers and quarry workers are among those most often affected. There is no treatment for silicosis. Those who suffer from the condition experience a lifetime of severe breathing problems and, in many cases, develop tuberculosis.
The case is being run by South Africa's Legal Resources Centre, assisted by Leigh, Day and Company, which previously represented South African victims of Cape plc and Thor Chemicals and Slater and Gordon, based in Australia.
"Gold mining in South Africa has been responsible for literally hundreds of thousands of cases of silicosis over the last 100 years even though the adverse heath effects associated with asbestos and silica were appreciated more than 100 years ago," Leigh, Day and Co alleged.
The fact that exposure to silica dust also increases the risk of tuberculosis was known in South Africa from at least 1913. "Yet the industry appears to have had displayed a flagrant disregard and cavalier attitude to the health of their workers," Leigh, Day and Company alleged.
"The evidence so far obtained shows that the dust standards at the mines were based on the assumption that 15% of the workforce employed for 20 years would develop silicosis and further that on-site showers and change-room facilities to remove toxic dust from workers' clothes and bodies were not provided for black workers," Leigh, Day and Company added.
"The similarities with what happened to the hundreds of thousands of workers injured by the asbestos industry are striking. We were able to obtain many millions of pounds for thousands of South African asbestos workers -- I am hopeful we can be a part of ensuring that the gold-mining industry is similarly brought to book," the legal firm's Martyn Day said in a statement.
The Bond Victims' Association (BVA) in Welkom sought the legal team's assistance. "Our community-based organisation has been assisting numerous gold miners in the Welkom area. Sick miners and their families have been left jobless and impoverished," Dan Mofokeng of the BVA said.
The claims relate to employment at various mines, which were owned until 1998 by Anglo, a parent company that underwent a restructuring in 1999 that resulted in the shifting of its domicile to London.
Anglo listed on the London Stock Exchange on May 24 1999.
At the same time ownership of the shares in these mines was transferred to AngloGold, which was formed in 1998. Earlier this year, AngloGold merged with Ghana's Ashanti Goldfields to create AngloGold Ashanti.
Evidence shows that the Anglo parent company had a direct link in the technical and medical aspects of all its gold mining operations, Leigh, Day and Co alleged. "The present proceedings are thus brought against the Anglo parent company, much the same as earlier cases pursued in the United Kingdom against Cape PLC and Thor Chemicals," the firm added.
The South African Legal Aid Board is providing significant funding for the cases, recognising their public importance. The South Africa's legal resources centre is the main provider of legal aid for those who can't afford legal representation.
The centre is largely funded by donations from overseas. Many high-profile lawyers -- including the current chief justice of South Africa -- started their legal careers with the centre, Leigh, Day and Company said. -- I-Net Bridge
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Lung or Respiratory Disease:
What do the lungs do?
The main function of the lungs is (rapid) gas exchange. This is accomplished by a well-coordinated interaction of the lungs with the central nervous system, the diaphragm and chest wall musculature, and the circulatory system.
Gas exchange occurs in the alveolus where the thin laminar blood flow and inspired air are separated only by a thin tissue layer. Gas exchange takes 0.25 seconds or 1/3 of the total transit time of a red cell. The entire blood volume of the body passes through the lungs each minute in the resting state, that is 5 liters per minute. The total surface area of the lung is about 80 meters square, equivalent to the size of a tennis court.
Only about 10% of the lung is occupied by solid tissue, whereas the remainder is filled with air and blood. Supporting structures of the lung must be delicate to allow gas exchange, yet strong enough to maintain architectural integrity, that is sustain alveolar structure. The functional structure of the lung can be divided into (1) the conducting airways (dead air space), and (2) the gas exchange portions. The two plumbing systems are: airways for ventilation, and the circulatory system for perfusion. Both are under low pressure.
Lung conditions and terms:
Respiratory infection - Can be caused by anything from the rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, and multiple other viruses. Mild cases are known as the common cold, severe cases become Pneumonia, and can be life threatening.
Obstructive pulmonary disease:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), also called chronic obstructive lung disease, is a term that is used for two closely related diseases of the respiratory system: chronic bronchitis and emphysema. In many patients these diseases occur together, although there may be more symptoms of one than the other. Most patients with these diseases have a long history of heavy cigarette smoking.
Influenza:
Commonly called "the flu," is caused by the influenza virus, which infects the respiratory tract. The virus generally spreads from person-to-person when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Compared with other respiratory infections like the common cold, the flu can cause severe illness and lead to serious, and life-threatening complications in all age groups.
Typical flu symptoms include fever, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headache, muscle aches, and extreme fatigue. Children may experience gastrointestinal problems like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea but such symptoms are not common in adults. Although the term "stomach flu" is sometimes used to describe gastrointestinal illnesses, this is caused
by other organisms and is not related to “true” flu.
Sarcoidosis:
Also known as Sarcoid or Boeck's disease, is a multi-system auto-immune disease. It is a systemic granulomatous disease especially involving the lungs with resulting fibrosis but can also effect skin, liver, spleen, eyes, bones, brain, parotid glands and other soft tissue organs. Sarcoidosis is not contagious, it's onset may appear without any symptoms and it can cause lifelong ailments. At this time there is no cause or cure for sarcoidosis.
Pulmonary fibrosis:
Shortness of breath is the main symptom possibly first appearing during exercise. The condition then may progress to the point where any exertion is impossible. If the disease progresses, the person may be short of breath even at rest. This happens because scarring occurs in the tissue between the air sacs, with the lung becoming stiff.
Pulmonary hypertension:
A rare and incurable disease. It most often strikes young women in the prime of their lives, causing high blood pressure in the lungs, which produces progressive breathlessness and ultimately death.
Pulmonary embolism:
An obstruction of a blood vessel in the lungs, usually due to a blood clot, which blocks a coronary artery. Symptoms include chest pain, chest wall tenderness, back pain, shoulder pain, upper abdominal pain, syncope, hemoptysis, shortness of breath, painful respiration or new onset of wheezing.
Dyspnea:
Shortness of breath, or dyspnea, is a feeling of difficult or labored breathing that is out of proportion to the level of physical activity. It is a symptom of a variety of different diseases or disorders and may be either acute or chronic. It results from a combination of impulses relayed to the brain from nerve endings in the lungs, rib cage, chest muscles, or diaphragm, combined with the patient's perception and interpretation of
the sensation. Patients can feel an unpleasant shortness of breath, increased tiredness in the chest muscles, a panicky feeling of being smothered, or tightness and cramping in the chest wall.
Sources:
Cornell University Medical College
Sarcoidosis Online Sites
American Lung Association
Pulmonary Hypertension Association eMedicine
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts
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