Tune in at 7:20 for the continuing story on Maggie's 100 Mile Diet. She'll talk with Chef Matt from Prairie Bay restaurant in Brainerd. He's made an effort to put as much local food on their menu as possible.
At 7:50 Maggie and Don Boese are talking with Associate Professor Ian Alexander Greaves. He'll be speaking at the Grand Rapids Area Library on Thursday night at 7pm. His topic is Mesothelioma and Mineral Fibers on the Iron Range.
Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by previous exposure to asbestos. Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they inhaled asbestos particles, or have been exposed to asbestos dust and fiber in other ways, such as by washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos, or by home renovation using asbestos cement products. Unlike lung cancer, there is no association between mesothelioma and smoking.
To date, there have been 145 deaths from mesothelioma on the Iron Range of Minnesota, including 58 Iron Range miners. Iron Rangers and elected officials are calling for the resignation of MN Health Commissioner Diane Mandernach. Many believe that information about deaths linked to mesothelioma was suppressed.
In March 2006, the MDH found out that 35 of the 58 workers had mesothelioma, but it did not release these statistics for a full year. The Minnesota United Steelworkers and eight lawmakers are urging the state legislature and the Attorney General to begin a criminal investigation into the delay. “It is unconscionable, unethical and probably criminal for a public agency to withhold information about a potential health risk to workers,” commented Bob Bratulich, Director of District No. 11 of the United Steelworkers, which represents many miners in the Iron Range. (Post Bulletin, June 19, 2007).
Dr. Greaves was a consultant on the mesothelioma study, and has publicly criticized the Department's decision to withhold the findings.
The talk is at the Grand Rapids Area Library at 7pm on Thursday, July 26th. It is free and open to the public.
No comments:
Post a Comment