Welcome  to  Public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. The  relationship  between  respiratory  disease  and mining  work  has  been a  continuing  concern  in  northeastern  Minnesota, where  unusually  high  rates  of  mesothelioma, a  rare  and  fatal  form  of  cancer, have  been  reported  among  males  since  the  late  1980s. Dr.  Jeffrey  Mandel,  an Environmental  Health  Sciences  professor at  the  University  of  Minnesota, is  helping  lead  an  effort  to  find  out  why  we're overseeing  the  research  studies  being  conducted, try  to  clarify  the  reason why  these  cases  are  in  existence. Is  it  related  to  exposures  in  the  mining  industry, for  example,  Is  it  related  to  other  exposures? A  2003  study  attributed  17  of 58  known  cases  to  exposure  to  commercial  asbestos, which  is  not  unique  to  the  mining  industry. That  study,  however,  did  not  look at  potential  exposure  to  taconite  dust. So  if  we  understand  the  relationship of  the  dust  to  these  cases, we're  hoping  that  we'll  have  some  better  insight  in terms  of  how  we  can  prevent  cases  from  developing. In  the  future,  there  will  be  three  different  studies. We're  hoping  to  complete  the  work  for all  these  studies  in around  three  years  with  another  public  health  moment. I'm  John  Finnegan.