Battle for Breath: Industry Lobbyists, Government Watchdogs, and the Silicosis Crisis

Battle for Breath: Industry Lobbyists, Government Watchdogs, and the Silicosis Crisis

In 1935 it was discovered that roughly seven hundred workers had died after drilling tunnels for the Union Carbide corporation at Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Congressional investigations revealed that hundreds of these workers had been buried outside the tunnels, in unmarked roadside graves, by the very company that was killing them. What destroyed these workers was silicosis—a devastating lung disease that results from the inhalation of silica particles. Silicosis patients suffer from ch...