Steelworkers demand inquiry into mesothelioma study

Here's the latest link from our Mining Correspondent Lori Andresen:

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/?id=44438
Steelworkers demand inquiry into mesothelioma study
Duluth News TribunePublished Tuesday, June 19, 2007
United Steelworkers leaders are calling for a legislative and criminal investigation into the delayed release of information in a Minnesota Department of Health report on additional cases of mesothelioma found among Iron Range miners.
“It is unconscionable, unethical and probably criminal for a public agency to withhold information about a potential health risk to our workers,” Bob Bratulich, United Steelworkers District 11 director said Tuesday in a news release. “The United Steelworkers are extremely concerned about the health and safety of our members. We should be told the truth immediately if there is a problem with fibers in the rock of some of these operations. We need to know so that we can deal with them in a manner that protects the health of our members and the community generally, and allows those operations to continue to be productive.”
The department in March 2006 discovered that a rare, asbestos-related cancer had stricken 35 more miners than the 17 previously known.

[http://www.steelworkers-usw.org/]Health department documents obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune show that Department of Health had planned to disclose that information last year to mining unions, businesses, and federal regulators and others but waited until this year to disclose the information.
Bratulich called Tuesday on the state Attorney General's office and Minnesota Legislature to investigate the health department's delay in releasing the information.
Bratulich said he wants to know whether others from the Governor's Office or company officials were involved in the delay, along with health department Commissioner Dianne Mandernach and Dr. Alan Bender, head of the environmental epidemiology section that conducted the research.
In 2003, the health department found that 17 miners had developed mesothelioma between 1988 and 1996 and that commercial asbestos, not taconite dust, was the likely source.
Bratulich says he doesn't know the cause of the cancer.
However, Bratulich says the delay in releasing the information has slowed down studies aimed at determining a potential source.