Health Impacts of Coal: Should We Be Concerned?
Short Course
By Robert B. Finkelman and Joseph E. Bunnell
U. S. Geological Survey, Reston VA 20192 - rbf@usgs.gov, jbunnell@usgs.gov
This short course, part of the Coal Quality: Global Priorities conference, will sort out the facts and fallacies that have been interwoven in this sensitive issue. We will explore questions such as: Are there confirmed cases of health problems? Under what conditions would coal present a threat to human health? What properties of coal are actually dangerous? What can the coal science community do about these?
COURSE OUTLINE
Health Impacts of Coal: Facts and Fallacies -- This lecture will provide an overview of the issue. We will discuss situations in which health problems have been confirmed and where the health impacts of coal have been distorted. We will briefly review the current situation with regard to mercury in coal. (Robert B. Finkelman)
Health Impacts of Residential Coal Use in China -- Lecture on arseniasis and fluorosis in China. (Robert B. Finkelman)
Naturally-Occurring Coal May Pose Risks: Balkan Endemic Nephropathy (BEN) -- A summary of the relationship between BEN and the leaching of organic compounds from lignites. (Joseph E. Bunnell)
INSTRUCTORS
Robert B. Finkelman, Ph.D. (703) 648-6412, rbf@usgs.gov
Bob Finkelman has worked as a Research Geochemist for the U.S. Geological Survey for 30 years interrupted by 7 years with Exxon Production Research Company. For the past 25 years, he has been involved with various coal quality issues. During the last 10 years, he has focused attention on the health impacts of geologic materials including coal. He has conducted research on Balkan endemic nephropathy in Yugoslavia and Romania and he has worked extensively in China on arseniasis and fluorosis caused by residential coal combustion. He has also lectured extensively on Medical Geology, the health impacts of geologic materials and geologic processes.
Joseph E. Bunnell, Ph.D. (703) 648-6497, jbunnell@usgs.gov
Joe Bunnell received a Ph.D. degree in Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University in 2000. Since 2001, he has worked with the USGS Energy Program on a variety of health-related coal issues. His research has included work on Balkan endemic nephropathy, a possibly similar situation in the USA, and respiratory health effects of coal combustion in the Navajo Nation.
ABSTRACT
Health problems caused by coal are derived from either the use of poor quality coal (high ash, high sulfur, or high content of toxic trace elements) or by the improper use of coal. When poor quality coal is used in an improper way the resultant health problems can be widespread and severe. In millions of houses in many developing countries coal and other biomass fuels are burned in unvented stoves causing severe indoor air pollution. In Guizhou Province, southwest China, the situation is exacerbated by the use of coal that has concentrated toxic elements to an extraordinary degree. Thousands of people in this region are suffering from severe arsenic poisoning. The primary source of the arsenic appears to be consumption of chili peppers dried over fires fueled with high-arsenic coal. Coal samples in the region were found to contain up to 35,000 ppm arsenic. Chili peppers dried over high-arsenic coal fires adsorb 500 ppm arsenic on average. More than 10 million people in Guizhou Province and surrounding areas suffer from dental and skeletal fluorosis. The excess fluorine is due to eating corn dried over burning briquettes made from high-fluorine coals and high-fluorine clay binders. An unusual situation exists in the Balkans where there may be health problems caused by coal in the ground. Well waters containing nitrogenated and aromatic amines and other hydrocarbons leached from low-rank coals may be the cause of, or a contributing factor of, Balkan Endemic Nephropathy, an interstitial nephropathy, that is believed to have killed more than 100,000 people in Yugoslavia alone. Investigation is underway to determine if BEN-like situations exist in other parts of the world where lignite deposits occur, including the USA. Not all of the allegations of health problems caused by coal are legitimate. Concerns expressed about exposure to radioactivity from coal and coal combustion products are misplaced. The products of commercial coal combustion (fly ash, bottom ash) do have uranium and thorium concentrations about 5 to 10 times higher than that of the coal. But the uranium and thorium in the coal byproducts should not cause concern because they are mostly in insoluble forms at concentration levels similar to most soils.