Mountaintop mining is linked to increased community cancer risk.

Image via Wikipedia

Self-Reported Cancer Rates in Two Rural Areas of West Virginia with and Without Mountaintop Coal Mining

Journal of Community Health via Mother Jones (Published online July 24, 2011; doi 10.1007/s10900-011-9448-5) / by Michael Hendryx, Leah Wolfe, Juhua Luo and Bo Webb
https://motherjones.com/files/final_jch_cancer_2011.pdf

[Abstract] Mountaintop coal mining in the Appalachian region in the United States causes significant environmental damage to air and water. Serious health disparities exist for people who live in coal mining portions of Appalachia, but little previous research has examined disparities specifically in mountaintop mining communities. A community-based participatory research study was designed and implemented to collect information on cancer rates in a rural mountaintop mining area compared to a rural non-mining area of West Virginia. A door–door health interview collected data from 773 adults. Selfreported cancer rates were significantly higher in the mining versus the non-mining area after control for respondent age, sex, smoking, occupational history, and family cancer history (odds ratio = 2.03, 95% confidence interval = 1.32–3.13). Mountaintop mining is linked to increased community cancer risk. Efforts to reduce cancer
and other health disparities in Appalachia must focus on mountaintop mining portions of the region.

Related articles

• Mountaintop Removal Mining Directly Linked To 60,000 Cancer Cases In Appalachia (desmogblog.com)
• Crusader Against Mountaintop Mining Memorialized (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Lethal Fallout from Mining Spurs a Mountaintop Removal Moratorium Campaign to End to the Humanitarian Crisis in Appalachia (alternet.org)
• Researchers to Study Mountaintop Mining’s Effect on Watersheds (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Big Coal Claims Inbreeding is Behind W. Virginia Birth Defects, Not Mining (treehugger.com)
• Birth Defects Linked to Mountaintop Removal Practices (socyberty.com)
• Activists Staged Creative Sit-In at EPA Headquarters to Call for Stronger Action on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining (prweb.com)
• EPA Nixes Mountaintop Mining Project (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• The Last Mountain (ourcompass.wordpress.com)
• Letters: Movie documents destructive mining (knoxnews.com)