Public demanding Answers from Minnesota Health Department for Negligence

The Minnesota department of health is facing serious charges on account of withholding mesothelioma information from the people of northern Minnesota. The land of northern Minnesota comprises of Iron Range that is full of natural deposits like iron ore and taconite. On one hand where these mineral have been a source of prosperity and brought numerous job opportunities to the land, on the other hand, the dust released from these minerals has been accredited for bringing mesothelioma in the area. Mesothelioma, a rare and extremely deadly form of cancer is caused by asbestos, a deadly carcinogen if it is inhaled or breathed in.

Between 1988 and 1996, 17 miners died from what later came to be known as asbestos related cancer in 2003. In March 2006 it was found that the exact number of miners who worked at Iron Range was more than 17, it was actually 52 and the real cause of these deaths was the mine dust that was chemically identical to asbestos as reported by the Star Tribune.

However, this report was not made public and more than 4,000 men and women workers were not told abut the dangerous health consequences they were facing by working in taconite industry. It is not known that why the state Health Department did not notify the residents of the area about mesothelioma threat and maintained silence over the increasing number of deaths.

According to Star Tribune, the Health Department was planning to release drafts of this news only if the findings of this report leaked by any chance. The internal documents of Health Department uncovered by the Star Tribute state Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach’s briefings that, “release of the findings is likely to generate demands that the government do more to protect workers.”

Additionally, it has been learned that the health department deliberately excluded two university researchers from the study for the fear that they might disclose the information. This was deliberate cruelty and ruthlessness of the Health Department as it is the duty of the government to look after the health interests of its people.

Commissioner Mandernach has claimed that since the department learned about the additional deaths caused by mesothelioma, it has been carrying out further research to “…make sure we had a scientific basis and protocol put together.” However, this claim has been rejected on the basis of being doubtful and a poor excuse for withholding such important information regarding the safety of miners.

The people of Iron Range are very upset and demand an answer from the Health Department for keeping this information to themselves and endangering precious lives to mesothelioma. This kept the outside help from reaching the state and helping people and researchers to fight this deadly cancer. The department has been strongly accused of being negligent in carrying out its duty.

Due to lack of funds and proper equipment, the state is not fully equipped to carry out the comprehensive study that the department claims to be working on. This has caused a wave of resentment and anger among people and they are demanding answers from the department for their uncaring and negligent attitude.