Searching for Answers

Researchers investigate a cluster of lung cancer deaths on the Iron Range

By Linda Raab

Northeastern Minnesota earned its Iron Range nickname from its long history of iron mining. After high-grade iron ore deposits on the Iron Range became depleted several decades ago, the switch to the mining of taconite, a hard rock that is about one-third iron, salvaged a vital sector of that region’s economy. When the Minnesota Department of Health recently released historical data identifying 58 deaths in Iron Range taconite workers from mesothelioma, a rare, fatal form of lung cancer typically linked to asbestos exposure, the news had a profound emotional impact on a community so closely tied to mining.

In response to this new information, several state legislators asked the University of Minnesota to investigate the causes of these mesothelioma cases. Through a series of four studies, a team that includes experts in occupational health, epidemiology, pulmonology, mineral processing, and industrial hygiene aims to identify whether exposure to specific materials increases risk for mesothelioma and other diseases, both respiratory and nonrespiratory.

Initial research efforts began with an exposure assessment study, which involves determining how much exposure to materials like asbestos, iron ore dust, and silica occurs on each of the jobs that miners perform. The exposure assessment data will lay the groundwork for an examination of lung health in current and former mine workers and their spouses; a comparison of the exposure and work history of the mesothelioma case group to that of a matched control group; and a cause of death analysis for the 72,000 people who have worked in the Iron Range taconite industry.

“In combination, we’ll have a very comprehensive look at the health of these workers,” notes Jeffrey Mandel, professor in the School of Public Health who leads the nine-member research team. Results from the initial exposure assessment will be available in 2008 and 2009, and will include safety recommendations. Results from the other three studies will emerge over the next few years.

Community support for the research has been high. “I think the involvement of the University means a thorough and defensible investigation of the whole mesothelioma issue as it pertains to Iron Range workers,” says State Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia. To keep citizens informed, the newly formed Minnesota Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership, a stakeholder group that includes the research team, will hold regular meetings and disseminate updates via its Web site. The research team will also soon offer a toll-free phone number citizens can use to ask questions about exposure and screening.

“All kinds of concerns and anxieties surround this issue,” says Mandel. “My hope is that our work could put this issue to rest in some way so that concerns aren’t there, or if we identify problems, we’ll know how to deal with them so that the Iron Range doesn’t have to be weighed down by this burden any longer.”

For more information about the Minnesota Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership, visit: www.sph.umn.edu/lunghealth