Several Minnesota state senators are calling for the firing of the state’s health commissioner for failing to release information about an increase in mesothelioma deaths among miners. The senators called on Gov. Tim Pawlenty to fire health commissioner Diane Mandernach for failing to disclose the results of a study into mesothelioma cases among workers in the state’s “Iron Range.”

According to an investigation conducted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Minnesota health department learned in March 2006 that 35 Iron Range miners had died from mesothelioma. This was more than twice the number of mesothelioma deaths identified in a 2003 study. Last week, the health department announced that it had uncovered an additional six miners who had developed mesothelioma symptoms. This disclosure brought the total number of mesothelioma cases to 58.

Critics of Mandernach and the health department say that if the agency had disclosed the findings of its study more quickly, mine workers would have been able to seek medical attention in the 15 months since it learned of the 35 additional cases. Sen. Tom Rukavina says that the health department’s discovery of the additional mesothelioma cases may signal an increase in patients receiving a mesothelioma diagnosis over the next few years.

Equally outraged was United Steelworkers, District 11, which said in a press release that it may seek damages in a mesothelioma lawsuit against the department. The union added that the agency’s actions warranted a criminal investigation.

The recently uncovered mesothelioma deaths were discovered in a study of former Iron Range miners begun by the Minnesota health department in 1998. The study uncovered a possible link between the development of mesothelioma symptoms and exposure to taconite dust, a form of iron. Most cases of mesothelioma are caused by exposure to asbestos.

The Department of Health says that the new information suggests that the link between taconite and a mesothelioma diagnosis may be even more significant that previously thought. Officials say that the department is planning a new study, which will examine the link between mesothelioma and asbestos or taconite exposure. The study will also compare the cases of workers who developed mesothelioma symptoms to those who did not in the hopes of understanding the risk factors for the disease.