Silica scars: On India’s silicosis problem
India’s growth aspirations have spurred the national mining industry to extract more minerals for use in construction. One such mineral is silicon dioxide, or silica, an important component of sand and stone. Mine workers exposed to silica dust for many years have a heightened risk of developing silicosis, wherein microscopic silica particles are lodged in lung tissue, hampering their normal function. The risk of silicosis is age-agnostic and determined by exposure, and is chronic after onset. Thus it threatens millions of workers, many of them young. In 1999, the Indian Council of Medical Research reported that more than eight million people in the country were highly exposed to silica dust; this population could only have increased since the national government has opened new mines and e...
