Black lung affects miners and workers in cement production who breathe in coal or cement dust. The disease can take 10 years to manifest symptoms in patients.
Although accidents alone make China's mines the most dangerous places on earth to work, black lung disease contributes to the dangers workers face every time they descend into one of China's numerous mines.
Last year approximately 8,000 miners developed pneumoconiosis. Another 4,700 miners were killed in accidents, although that figure is probably low says Li Tao, an official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Only 10 percent of the country's enterprises are monitored," Li Tao told Xinhua news.
Even at that the statistics are dismal.
In 2005, the death rate in China's coal mines 70 times worse than that in the United States. At 2.81 deaths for every million tons of coal mined it was also seven times higher than the death rate for miners in Russia and India.
During World Day for Safety and Health at Work observances on Saturday, officials pledged cooperation with international agencies to improve occupational health and safety standards.
"China will develop better policies, increase supervision, make risk evaluation and education and training," said Wang Xianzheng, deputy director of the State Administration of Work Safety, China's watchdog agency, Xinhua news reports.
China has tried to help its miners in the past. In November of 2004 it announced the government had launched a black lung therapy foundation to finance miner's treatment for the disease that kills 5,000 people annually.
The aim of the foundation is to prolong lives and improve the quality of life for miners stricken with the disease.
