A couple weeks ago I talked about a proposal before the Minnesota state legislature to fund mesothelioma research. The legislation is sparked by recent state Health Department reports of unusually high instances of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related cancer deaths among the Iron Range miners.

In the past two days, reports from local television stations in Minnesota representing the three main networks, CBS, NBC and ABC, say that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has spoken out against the bill currently before the state legislature, which would provide $4.9 million toward a study of mesothelioma and asbestos disease.

The news agencies report that Gov. Pawlenty objects to the fact that the proposed funding would come from the state’s Worker’s Compensation Fund. The Northland Newscenter, which operates channel NBC 6 and CBS 3 serving the Duluth area, said the agency in charge of that fund also opposes using money from the fund for the study.

The bill is currently moving through the Senate, and will be up for a vote on the House floor shortly.

Tags: asbestos, asbestos disease, death, EPA, Governor Tim Pawlenty, iron range, meso, mesothelioma, Minnesota, On The House, research, Tim Pawlenty

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.