Archive for the ‘Minnesota’ Category

Gliese Bergeron once worked as a pipe fitter. As a result of his work, he was exposed to asbestos and inhaled asbestos fibers. He developed an asbestos-related disease, sued, and received financial compensation. Now he says he’s developed a second asbestos-related disease and has filed a second lawsuit, hoping to receive additional compensation.

Bergeron’s lawsuit was filed by his attorney on July 17 in Jefferson County District Court and names a total of nineteen defendants, including the A.O. Smith Corp, the CBS Corporation, and Zurn Industries.

According to the petition, the A.O. Smith Corp and the eighteen other defendant companies knowingly and maliciously produced and sold asbestos-containing products.

While the suit does not say where and when Bergeron worked as a pipe-fitter and was exposed to asbestos, is does say that his work as a pipe-fitter and maintenance planner “caused him to suffer from…industrial dust diseases caused by breathing the asbestos-containing products.”

In addition the suit claims that the defendant companies were negligent due to their failure to test their asbestos-containing products before releasing them on the market, and also for failing to warn consumers of the dangers of working with and around asbestos without adequate protection from exposure.

Specifically, the complaint says that American Optical Corp and the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Corporation (3M) are at fault for their production of defective masks that did not provide protection against asbestos inhalation.

Bergeron has already sued and been compensated for having developed an asbestos-related disease, but the suit says that he “seeks damages against defendants not released in the previous actions pursuant to Pustejovsky v. Rapid-American Corp.”

The Pustejovsky v. Rapid-American Corp decision referred to in the complaint was an opinion granted by the Texas Supreme Court in 2000. In this the court decided that a person who successfully sues for compensation for the development of an asbestos-related disease may sue a second time if he subsequently develops another disease.

This decision overturned a long history of cases which had decided victims could only sue once for asbestos-related injuries, even if they developed a second asbestos-related disease at a later date. This can occur when, for example, a person first develops asbestosis and then later is diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Gliese Bergeron is suing for exemplary damages as well as compensation for mental and physical pain and suffering, physical impairment, lost income, lost earning capacity, and medical expenses.

Another taconite Iron Range miner is dead from mesothelioma, bringing the total number of mesothelioma fatalities for taconite workers in the area to 59. The news was announced by the Minnesota Department of Health at the third meeting of the Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership.

Mesothelioma is a rare but deadly form of cancer that most commonly develops in the lining of the lungs of affected individuals. The only known cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos.

The Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership is working towards completing a study on the Iron Range mesothelioma issue, for which it recently received funding of $4.9 million.

In 2007, the Department of Health announced that a total of 35 Iron Range miners had died from mesothelioma. Along with several other miners previously identified as having died from mesothelioma, Professor John Finnegan, dean of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, says that 58 Iron Range miners have died from the disease to date. Finnegan believes that this total is “clearly in excess” of that which should be expected in an average population.

According to Charlie Olson, an Iron Range steelworker who gave testimony before the House Higher Education and Work Force Development Policy and Finance Division, workers at Iron Range mines have long held suspicion that the taconite processing work they were doing was causing the release of asbestos. Fibers that closely resemble asbestos have been found in eastern Iron Range ore.

Preliminary data analysis on 58 mine workers diagnosed with mesothelioma has been carried out by the Minnesota Department of Health. The miners in the study worked at six of the seven mining operations that were active during their employment period.

Almost one fourth of the workers were employed in the mining industry for less than one year, while slightly more than one fourth were employed for thirty or more years. Almost all of the miners were diagnosed with mesothelioma at least thirty years after they had first begun work in the mining industry. In some cases, diagnosis was made more than sixty years later.

The new $4.9 million study will involve health and respiratory screening of current and former Iron Range mine workers and their spouses, as well as air testing in several different locations in and around the Iron Range area.

Air quality tests began last week at Virginia City Hall, where a $35,000 particle-sampling machine collected ten days worth of data. The machines will be set up in a variety of location to collect data which can be analyzed to determine the types of particles present.

The partnership hopes that the information they collect will eventually provide an answer to the question of why so many Iron Range workers have died from mesothelioma.

The Minnesota Iron Range study that has been several years in the making has finally begun, as this week researchers collected their first batch of air test samples.

The NRRI and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health are collaborating on a five year study which will investigate the health risks Iron Range miners face from exposure to mine dust. It has previously been shown that Iron Range miners have a substantially increased risk of developing mesothelioma compared to the risk for the general population.

The researchers have collected samples from a particle-sampling machine which sits atop Virginia City Hall. Over the next few months, three of these machines—which each cost $35,000—will move through communities all over the Iron Range, to allow researchers to find out what types of particles are present in the air around the mines.

This information will be invaluable if subsequent research shows that mineral particles present in the mine or the air are a human health hazard.

The testing machines have collected data for ten days in Virginia, and the filters will now be analyzed in Minneapolis, according to UMD Natural Resources Research Institute research associate Tamara Diedrich. Following the initial analysis the samples will be shipped back to UMD for more in-depth analysis using electron microscopy.

Diedrich says these initial air tests are “exploratory” work, and also says the research team is still devising a detailed plan as to how Iron Range air quality will be monitored.

The team will likely include Hibbing, Silver Bay, Babbitt, Grand Rapids, Ely, Keewatin and Chisholm in their initial sampling over the next few months. Up to ten communities may be involved, but only three will be monitored at a time due to limited resources. “This is an exciting opportunity to look at dust in the air and find out how the background changes from east to west across the Range,” Diedrich said.

The machines which are being used for the sampling “inhale” one cubic foot of air per minute, and use tiny filters to retain particulate matter in the air. The intake valve filters are just eighteen microns in diameter. A human hair, in comparison, is 70 microns in diameter.

According to Tamara Diedrich the community air monitoring will provide information about exposure to particulate matter which will be useful if there are any issues discovered during subsequent phases of the research. However, it will take up to three years’ worth of data to create a “baseline” for community particulate exposure which can be used as a basis for comparison with communities where suspected asbestos or other dangerous particles may be present in the air.

Silver Bay, Minnesota – The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled this week that levels of asbestos-like fibers in the air at the Northshore Mining Company processing plant at Silver Bay will continue to be compared with fiber levels in St. Paul.

The three-judge panel released the decision on Tuesday. Their decision is in agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which maintains that the standard is required for the protection of people who live and work near the Silver Bay taconite-processing plant.

The emission standard is 34 years old, having been imposed in a federal court ruling in 1974. It has since been included in MPCA-issued operating permits for the Northshore Mining Company’s Silver Bay plant.

A few years prior, the Reserve Mining Co. (now owned by Northshore Mining) had been ordered to stop dumping taconite waste rock into Lake Superior. At that time, scientists discovered that the waste rock being dumped into the lake contained particles and fibers that closely resembled asbestos. The emission standards were set up and enforced after the discovery of the asbestos-like substance, and a related ruling forced the Reserve Mining Co. to set up a new waste disposal site on land.

According to the emissions ruling, the levels of asbestos-like fibers at the plant must be lower than samples of asbestos-like fibers in air samples taken at St. Paul.

The Northshore Mining Company claimed that the standards are outdated and unnecessary. The court decision, however, says that “Northshore cannot point to an adequate substitute for the ‘control city’ standard that is now in effect. Thus, the standard is not obsolete and its elimination from the permit would be a major amendment.”

The company could now petition the Minnesota Supreme Court, but a spokesperson for the company has said the company is undecided as to whether to take the matter further. “This was a procedural decision [which] in no way affects air quality in Silver Bay.” The spokesperson also noted that fiber levels at the Silver Bay plant have declined since the original 1974 ruling.

MPCA records do in fact show that fiber levels have dropped from a high of more than 300,000 per cubic meter of air in 1975, to 16,737 by 1980. In recent years, however, levels at Silver Bay have remained around 16,000 while levels in St. Paul have dropped to less than 2,000.

However, while the company was out of compliance with the requirement for several months in 2006 and 2007, it apparently is now back in compliance with the regulations, with fiber levels below those tested in St. Paul.

Minnesota – The Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics has announced its 2008 research projects, including a new experimental program involving virotherapy for the treatment of mesothelioma.

The research partnership involves the Mayor Clinic, the University of Minnesota, and the state of Minnesota. The partnership’s laboratory headquarters is located in Rochester on the Mayo Clinic campus. Working collaboratively, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota focus on research projects that neither group would be able to accomplish separately, in an attempt to increase the pace of potentially useful research.

Eric Wieben, Partnership program director at Mayo, said in a statement from the partnership, “We’re beginning to explore ways to use biotechnology and nanotechnology to do analysis and to make Minnesota’s environment healthier by avoiding toxic chemicals in pest control.”

Among the partnership’s new research projects are those exploring epilepsy, new pesticides that are non-toxic for humans, gene therapy for the treatment of heart disease, breast cancer diagnosis technology, fungal infection treatments, and mesothelioma research.

Noting that taconite miners in northeast Minnesota have a substantially higher risk of developing mesothelioma, the research group has decided to allot $867,114 and two years to study the potential of a type of treatment called virotherapy.

The research will be led by Dr. Stephen Russell of the Mayo Clinic, and Dr. Robert Krattzke of the University of Minnesota. The goal of the research project is to use a genetically altered measles virus developed at the Mayo Clinic to target mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that is particularly difficult to treat. Conventional treatments don’t tend to greatly improve a patient’s prognosis, and more than half of people diagnosed with the cancer die within two or three years.

Virotherapy is still a largely experimental type of cancer treatment, but it has shown promising results in treating certain types of cancer.

The therapy uses biotechnology techniques to convert viruses into diseases that attack only cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unharmed.

Virotherapy is a new technology, but the idea isn’t new—scientists noticed as early as the 1950s that cancer patients who had a viral infection, or who had recently been vaccinated, sometimes showed improvement. This discovery was largely attributed to the fact that viral infections cause the immune system to generate cytokines called tumor necrosis factor and interferon, both of which sometimes have mild anti-cancer effects.

The viruses used in virotherapy are somewhat different in that they are genetically altered specifically to target and kill cancer cells, but the therapy has been shown to have similar results. In 2006, researchers succeeding in using an avian virus to target cancer cells in people with a type of brain tumor, and achieved some encouraging results.

Virotherapy may be particularly promising for the treatment of cancers where surgery is not likely to be effective, which is often the case for people with mesothelioma. Virotherapy can be administered via an injection, just like chemotherapy, and doesn’t involve removing tumors, meaning that a patient who isn’t a good candidate for surgery may still be a suitable candidate for virotherapy.

Bancroft, Minnesota – Students at North Kossuth Elementary school will finish out the year at their own school after all. Initial air quality tests that found dangerously high levels of asbestos in the school were subsequently found to be falsely positive.

North Kossuth Elementary School in Bancroft, Minnesota was closed down after the results of asbestos testing came in on Monday April 28.

The results of the tests indicated that asbestos levels in the school were higher than what is generally considered to be safe. In one classroom, asbestos levels up to ten times higher were noted. Asbestos levels up to one thousand times higher than what is considered safe were shown in a hallway on the school’s second floor.

After viewing the test results, school district officials decided that North Kossuth should be closed down.

Superintendent Mike Landstrum said that the school board didn’t want to have to close the school, but the reports of those tests were worrying enough that it had to happen. School officials didn’t want to take any chances that might end up compromising the health of students and staff.

However, a third series of air quality tests completed on Monday May 5 showed that there was not a measurable level of asbestos present in the second floor of the building.

Landstrum said that the first tests had shown falsely positive results because they were not specific enough. The initial tests targeted all airborne fibers, instead of just asbestos fibers.

Landstrum admitted to being shocked about the results of the first tests that had shown asbestos levels up to one thousand times higher than safe levels, and even more shocked when the next series of tests showed no asbestos at all.

Tom Wuehr, a representative of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Health Services, explained that the initial tests picked up not only asbestos, but also other fibers such as hair, lint, and dust.

Wuehr also said that after the results of the second series of tests he is confident that they are valid and that there is not a dangerous level of asbestos present at North Kossuth Elementary.

Parents were informed of the new test results at a meeting on the evening of Monday May 5. Most were relieved and were reassured that the school was safe, but others were angry about the disruption to their children’s education and still had concerns about the safety of the school building.

Minneapolis, Minnesota – A couple living in Inver Grove Heights, Minneapolis are happy to hear that the state will reimburse the money they spent cleaning up a bizarre discovery they made in their basement: chunks of a buried bridge.

John and Judy McEachran, who are both Methodist pastors, have spent the last four years battling to get the mess cleaned up, and to then find a way of paying the bills of almost $150,000.

Their four-year battle began in 2004, when the family hired a contractor to start digging the basement on the empty lot they had purchased in 1998. When the contractors began digging, they found enormous pieces of concrete buried in the soil. The concrete chunks turned out to be pieces of a buried bridge.

When the McEachrans purchased the land, they had no idea that it had once been part of a construction materials landfill. And an unregulated one, at that. At the time they purchased the lot, state law hadn’t required that the seller of the land disclose that information to buyers.

What initially looked like a small issue quickly turned into a huge one with a $150,000 price tag—when a Dakota County environmental inspector tested some of the debris found on the lot, the McEachrans were dismayed to learn that asbestos was present.

The county subsequently charged the McEachrans with ownership of an unlicensed hazardous waste dump and ordered them to clean up the site immediately.

While some City Council members showed some understanding and agreed that the McEachrans shouldn’t be liable for cleaning up the mess, the family still had plenty of problems.

Eventually, the city of Inver Grove Heights agreed to contribute $15,000 towards the cost of cleaning up the site. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency also contributed funds by providing the McEachrans with contractors for the job. However, the family still had to come up with $67,000. Dakota County assessed the bill against the property, to be paid over 30 years. The interest was enough to bring the total cost for the McEachrans back up to $150,000.

The family wanted to find out who was responsible for dumping the bridge there, and to find some way of getting reimbursement for the money they owed for the clean-up.

The McEachrans took their case to the Capitol and were happy to discover that lawmakers had their own doubts about whether the family should be responsible for paying for clean-up.

Eventually, it was discovered that the buried pieces had come from a bridge erected and owned by the Minnesota Department of Transport. The claims commission recommended that MNDOT pay the claim, and the McEachrans can now breathe much more easily: the asbestos is gone from their property, and they no longer have to worry about paying a $150,000 bill that should never have been theirs to begin with.

Minnesota - The problems that have plagued the Minnesota mining study may finally be resolved. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who had threatened to veto the bill that would secure funding for the study, agreed to a compromise that will allow it to go ahead. The Minnesota Senate has now unanimously approved the funding for the study.

The state senate has granted preliminary approval last week. Now that the final vote has approved the study it will move back to the House. DFL Majority Leader Tony Sertich has indicated that once the funding is approved the study will begin quickly.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty had originally threatened to veto the bill because he believed the initial plan to fund the study using money from workers’ compensation special fund would drive up insurance costs for businesses.

Pawlenty believed the study should have been funded via the state’s taxpayers, using funds from a state agency called Iron Range Resources. However, some opponents to the use of the workers’ compensation fund believed it would be more appropriate to use Iron Range Resources funds because mesothelioma cases have been reported only in that region.

Opponents of the Iron Range Resources fund believed that using money from that source would unfairly impact on taxpayers who live in that area.

The new compromise on the funding will see the $4.9 million taken from a fund administered by the Department of Commerce. The fund is running at a surplus and removing funds is therefore unlikely to impact on businesses.

The source of the funds is an Assigned Risk Plan that acts as an insurance fund for companies that are unable to get workers’ compensation in the open market. The fund has a surplus of $41 million.

The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board has contributed $250,000 to the study. Tony Sertich said it would be unfair to ask the board to contribute further, and that state funds were an appropriate source because the research was an issue of statewide significance.

The University of Minnesota has attempted to obtain funding for similar research in the past, but has never received enough funding to complete an extensive study. Once the new study begins it will attempt to determine why taconite miners are developing malignant mesothelioma at such a high rate, including determining the source of the substance that is causing the cancer. The study will also attempt to evaluate the level of risk for miners’ families, and the general public.

Updates on the research will be provided annually, as well as recommendations on measures to reduce exposure to cancer-causing agents.

Minnesota - The Minnesota Iron Range worker study that has been in the planning stages for several months finally has official funding.

The final vote was almost unanimous: 121 to one. A total of $4.9 million will be provided for the study, which will be conducted by the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, in conjunction with partners such as Iron Range Resources, the state Department of Health and Department of Natural Resources, North Shore Mining Company, and United Steelworkers of America.

The funding will be drawn from a Department of Commerce special fund: an Assigned Risk Plan that acts as an insurance fund for companies that are unable to get workers’ compensation in the open market. The fund has a surplus of $41 million.

Previous opposition to the proposed funding plan for the study came from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who objected to the original funding plan. The Iron Range worker study was initially proposed with funding sourced from the state workers’ compensation special fund. Pawlenty objected because using funds from that source might have a negative impact on insurance costs for business owners.

Pawlenty had threatened to veto the bill on that basis, but has no objections to the study after alternative funding had been proposed.

The study was originally prompted by a number of factors relating to miners working in the section of Minnesota known as the Iron Range.

In 2007, the Department of Health announced that a total of 35 Iron Range miners had died from mesothelioma. With other miners previously identified as having died from mesothelioma, Professor John Finnegan, Dean of the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, says that 58 Iron Range miners have died from mesothelioma. Finnegan says that this total is “clearly in excess” of that which should be expected in an average population.

The University of Minnesota has attempted to obtain funding for similar research in the past, but has never received enough funding to complete an extensive study.

Once the new study begins it will attempt to determine why taconite miners are developing mesothelioma at such a high rate, including determining the source of the substance that is causing the cancer. The study will also attempt to evaluate the level of risk for miners’ families, and the general public.

DFL Majority Leader Tony Sertich indicated that the study would begin quickly after funding had been approved. Once the study begins, the research group will provide annual updates and recommendations for improving worker safety. The study is expected to be completed in around five years.

April 17, 2008, Minnesota - Last week the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the bill that would give the green light to the mesothelioma study on taconite miners in Minnesota’s Iron Range. However, the bill was strenuously opposed by several members of the House. This week, a compromise on funding might help the bill escape the threat of veto.

The research, which will be planned and executed by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, is intended to determine why Iron Range taconite miners are at a vastly increased risk of developing mesothelioma, a type of asbestos cancer that is caused by asbestos exposure.

The Minnesota Department of Health has determined that at least 58 Iron Range taconite miners have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Nationally, the average incidence of the disease is one case in every 500,000 people.

The bill passed by the Minnesota House of Representatives won by a majority vote of 88-45. The bill that was passed would use state workers’ compensation special fund money to fund the research, which will cost almost $5 million.

However, Gov. Tim Pawlenty had threatened to veto the bill, on the basis that the workers’ compensation special fund isn’t an appropriate source of funds for the study and that use of special fund money would drive up costs for businesses.

Pawlenty believes that the study should be funded not from the special fund, but via the state’s taxpayers, using funds from a state agency called Iron Range Resources. Some opponents to the use of the workers’ compensation fund say that Iron Range Resources funds are a more appropriate source because mesothelioma cases have been reported only in that region.

Opponents of the Iron Range Resources fund, however, say that using money from that source would unfairly impact on taxpayers who live in that area.

The compromise that has been proposed involves using money taken from a separate “assigned risk” workers’ compensation fund. That fund has higher reserves and is less likely to impact businesses. The funding compromise has gained broader approval than the previous proposal.

The University of Minnesota has attempted to obtain funding for similar research in the past, but has never received enough funding to complete an extensive study. Once the new study begins it will attempt to determine why taconite miners are developing mesothelioma at such a high rate, including determining the source of the substance that is causing the cancer. The study will also attempt to evaluate the level of risk for miners’ families, and the general public.