Welcome Students!
By John R. Finnegan, Jr.
Dean and Professor
Sept. 4, 2007
Welcome to Fall Semester 2007! It is great to have everyone here—and new faculty, students, and staff--to join us for what I have no doubt will be another exciting academic year. The "dog days" of summer's end are passing into one of Minnesota's best seasonal transitions. Soon, the air will be a little more crisp. Leaves will burst into a rainbow of colors. It is a wonderful season to start new academic adventures, to re-energize continuing journeys, and to hear the stories of the summer. Let me tell you one right now.
Just as summer was starting, the SPH was asked by legislative leaders to take leadership in an important study of the health of Minnesota's taconite workers. If you are not familiar with Minnesota, this involves that part of the state known as the Iron Range, historically one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world. Beginning in the 19th century, iron ore mined from Minnesota was shipped to the blast furnaces of the eastern United States where it was turned into steel that built this nation and sustained it through two world wars. But high-grade ore began to run out in the early 20th century. With the help of the University of Minnesota, a new process was developed to turn lower grade ore into purified iron pellets that would continue to produce high-grade steel. Those pellets are called "taconite." By the mid-1950s, the first huge processing plants were built on the Iron Range. Whether mining the ore in open-pits or processing it in the plants, taconite production produces dust—lots of it. The question is, what are the long-term health effects on workers of exposure to this dust?
Minnesota Department of Health scientists (many trained right here at the SPH) discovered an excess of cases of mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer, among taconite workers. The number rose from 17 cases in 2003 to 58 in 2006. The issue erupted late last spring in controversy over the Commissioner of Health's decision to delay releasing the findings for a year. She later regretted that decision and late in the summer decided to resign from her post. In mid-June, legislative leaders, many from the Iron Range, asked University President Bob Bruininks to provide the assistance of SPH and Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) scientists in getting to the bottom of the cause. We agreed. Dr. Jeff Mandel of the SPH Division of Environmental Health Sciences (EnHS) also agreed to serve as principal investigator along with key EnHS co-investigators Bruce Alexander, Ian Greaves, Gurumurthy Ramachandran, and Division Head Bill Toscano.
At our first public meeting of the newly formed Minnesota Taconite Workers Lung Health Partnership held on the Iron Range in early August, we laid out our plans for studies that will take place over the next three years. Importantly, scientists from the Minnesota Department of Health are indispensable to successful completion of this work and are full partners in unraveling this mystery on the Iron Range.
Of course, this is only the beginning of this story. More episodes will come. At the end of the story, I hope that a key lesson will be that the University, communities, workers, and industry can come together to produce the best science and prevention for the health of Minnesota's Iron Range. To learn more about the partnership, please check out this website: www.sph.umn.edu/lunghealth/.
Now, what's your summer story?