The Minnesota Department of Health announced earlier this month that 21 new cases of mesothelioma have been discovered in a group of 69,000 mine workers. Eighty cases of mesothelioma had been found in the group before, and now the total of affected workers in the group is 101.
All of the miners worked in the iron mining industry in Minnesota between 1930 and 1982. As in most cases of mesothelioma, a rare and devastating cancer that usually is fatal, workers were exposed to long periods of time to asbestos in their work environment. Asbestos fibers when inhaled can lead to mesothelioma, often decades after exposure. Mesothelioma occurs in groups of workers that worked around asbestos regularly, including miners and train and railroad workers.
The first mine worker in Minnesota that was identified with the asbestos cancer was in 2003. The study found that 14 of the 17 workers diagnosed had probable exposure to commercial asbestos.
The MN Department of Health determined that other factors could contribute to the rising occurrence of mesothelioma in that part of the state. Workers at a Conwed facility in Cloquet MN made asbestos tile from 1958-74, and 39 cases of the disease have been uncovered in that population of 5200 former workers.
Our personal injury legal firm has handled numerous mesothelioma cases over the years with railroad workers. We are glad to see that research is being conducted in other industries to determine who may have been affected by this devastating cancer; people who develop the disease due to working in an unsafe environment could be entitled to financial compensation.
Our personal injury lawyers have long fought to support the legal rights of railroad workers affected by this cancer. For instance, we represented a railroad clerk who developed the cancer after working for years in a railroad passenger terminal laden with asbestos insulation.
We are pleased when victims of this disease get the settlement they deserve; in many cases, the railroad companies did not even tell their workers that they had been exposed to the frequently-deadly fibers.
Our personal injury lawyers have long fought to support the legal rights of railroad workers affected by this cancer. This has included engineers, conductors, switchmen, track maintenance workers, and even office staff, since so many types of railroad workers had exposure to asbestos containing products at work. You can read about some of our successful recent mesothelioma settlements here.