A long-delayed government epidemiological study of possible ties between diesel exhaust and lung cancer in miners may finally be published this fall -- but only after a mining industry group, represented by the Washington lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs, finishes a pre-publication review of the study's drafts.
Eighteen years in the making and eagerly awaited by public health officials, the cancer study evaluates more than 12,000 current and former workers from eight mines that produce commodities other than coal. Its goal is to determine whether ultrafine diesel particulate matter -- a component of exhaust from diesel-powered machinery -- poses a serious hazard to miners in confined spaces.
In a development some experts find alarming, however, Patton Boggs lawyer and partner Henry Chajet, representing a mining industry alliance, the Methane Awareness Resource Group Diesel Coalition, accused the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of "unfairly, unjustly and unreasonably" depriving mine owners of an advance look at research that could impact their operations.
Providing the latest twist in a nearly 15-year court battle, Chajet's persuasive court filings led to a federal judge's terse, two-page order in June requiring the two Department of Health and Human Services institutes to turn over research to the business coalition's scientific experts 90 days prior to their public release. The same judge had issued a similar order in 2001.
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