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The Minnesota Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board voted unanimously to provide $250,000 in funding for a joint University of Minnesota and state Department of Health study. The funding will pay for medical examinations of Iron Range miners participating in the study. Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Pawlenty says that the State is seeking a matching grant to support the study. Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure, has been diagnosed in 58 Iron Range miners since 2003; at least 17 Iron Range miners were diagnosed with the disease before 2003. The Minnesota health department has committed approximately $300,000 to get the study off the ground, but the study could take 3 to 4 years and millions of dollars to finish. Cleveland-Cliffs, the mining company that employed the miners who succumbed to mesothelioma, has been criticized for planning its own mesothelioma study rather than supporting the state study. Minnesota officials have announced that the state will not support the company study. The company claims, however, that it is planning a workers’ health study that would include any lung problems, not exclusively mesothelioma. Communication about the plan will be important in light of the scandal created when it was revealed that the Minnesota health department had concealed for a full year the fact that 35 additional miners had died from mesothelioma. See related story. Late this summer, Minnesota Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach resigned because of the scandal. See related story.
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