Mining industry group to see cancer study before public release

A long-awaited government study about lung cancer in miners may finally be published this fall, but only after it is reviewed by a mining industry group. "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," Jim Morris and Chris Hamby report for Politics Daily. "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 June, a federal judge ruled the two Department of Health and Human Services institutes behind the study must turn over their findings to the Methane Awareness Resource Group Diesel Coalition, a mining industry alliance, at least 90 days in advance of the public release. The coalition, represented by lobbying powerhouse lawyer Patton Boggs and partner Henry Chajet, argued the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health were "unfairly, unjustly and unreasonably" depriving mine owners of an advance look at research that could impact their operations. The coalition said it wanted to provide the subjects of the study with details about how it was conducted and its results.

"Government researchers do studies all the time and publish them in peer-reviewed journals. This is the only example I know of where an industry group gets access to the information before anybody else does," Celeste Monforton, an assistant research professor at George Washington University, told the reporters. "I think as soon as the study is published [industry consultants] will already have another paper prepared that will dissect it and explain away any risks that are identified." Chajet said the government still refused to turn over some internal correspondence and raw data. "Our scientists are reviewing what's been given to us," he told the reporters, "but we are seriously considering going back [to court] to try to obtain the rest of the documentation." (Read more)