Pat Guth contributes news and insightful content for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. Bio »
June 06, 2012
Duluth, Minnesota - Last week, scientists and researchers involved in the Minnesota Taconite Workers Health Study gave an update, hinting that the high rate of mesothelioma among Iron Range workers may not be due to their current work in the industry.
Though researchers stopped short of saying that taconite and mesothelioma are not linked, some confided that they have been hard-pressed to find a link between the disease and the industry, noting that those who've developed the disease may have been exposed to asbestos elsewhere or a long time ago.
Nonetheless, researchers who are involved in the study – which is being completed at a cost of $5 million – say they are still working on figuring out where and when the workers may have been exposed to asbestos or asbestos-like fibers.
According to an article in the Duluth News Tribune, the study has already revealed a 300 percent higher rate of malignant mesothelioma among taconite workers as compared to the general population in the state of Minnesota, a figure they reiterated at the update last week.
The update also pointed out that Iron Range workers in Minnesota have 11 percent more heart disease and 20 percent more lung cancer than the general population of the state. But researchers also noted that they just aren't finding traditional asbestos-sized fibers in their research, so they're focusing their work on asbestos-like fibers – shorter fibers that are being dubbed "elongated mineral particles" because they aren't really asbestos.
The researchers also speculate that the asbestos-related diseases so prevalent among the workers may come from previous employment in shipyards, aboard U.S. Navy ships, or while handling insulation and other asbestos products while working in taconite plants.
The state continues to screen current taconite workers and has determined that some 17 percent have reduced lung capacity and abnormalities of tissue around the lungs. They say it's not clear as to how these issues developed, but they could be precursors to malignant pleural mesothelioma.
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