Mesothelioma Lawyer

The Houston Chronicle recently reported that 58 taconite miners who got a rare lung cancer worked in mines across Minnesota’s Iron Range. According to the report, at least one worker worked in the mines as little as a month but others worked in the mines for decades.

The taconite industry mines low-grade iron ore from several sites in northeastern Minnesota, processes it then the resulting pellets are shipped to steel mills.

The state Health Department recently filed a report that filled in some background on the workers who got mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer that shows up at about twice the expected rate in northeastern Minnesota.

Scientists say the data will help as they prepare three large studies of the cancer and miners’ health. Dr. Jeff Mandel, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist will lead the studies. Dr. Mandel and his counterpart at the health agency Dr. Alan Bender stated that researches will need three to five years to complete their work.

More than half of the men diagnosed worked in the mining industry for five or fewer years. Picklands Mather and U.S. Steel were the companies with the most workers affected. The report delved into the work histories of 41 cases identified since 2006. They held at least 122 different mining jobs as far back as 1942.

For more information, contact the Mesothelioma Lawyers at Williams Kherkher at 1.800.220.9341.