Federal mine safety regulators on Friday tightened their limits on asbestos exposure, making them match those covering other industries across the country.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration finalized its new asbestos rule, nearly seven years after a Labor Department Inspector General's report urged the agency to toughen its asbestos standard.

Richard Stickler, acting assistant labor secretary for MSHA said the final rule would "help improve health protection for miners who work in an environment where asbestos is present."

"Furthermore, it will help lower the risk of material impairment of health or functional capacity over a miner's working lifetime," Stickler said in a prepared statement.

The new MSHA asbestos limit covers exposure at metal and nonmetal mines, surface coal mines and surface areas of underground coal mines.

Exposure to asbestos has been associated with lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers, as well as asbestosis and other noncancerous respiratory diseases.

But for years, MSHA's permissible exposure limit allowed miners to be exposed to 20 times more asbestos than other workers covered by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's rules.

The MSHA and the OSHA rules now both limit exposure to 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter

The Labor Department IG recommended that MSHA change its rule after miners and their families began dying of asbestos exposure in the town of Libby, Mont.

MSHA began a rulemaking a year after the IG report was published, and then issued a proposed rule in July 2005. Safety advocates have been waiting for a final rule ever since.

Celeste Monforton, a former MSHA staffer and a public health researcher at George Washington University, said it is good that the agency finally toughened its exposure limit, but that change alone is far too narrow.

MSHA needs to come up with a broader rule that requires more steps to limit asbestos exposure and better monitor mining operations, Monforton said.

"Miners still don't have the same level of protections as other workers in the country," Monforton said Friday.

To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration finalized its new asbestos rule, nearly seven years after a Labor Department Inspector General's report urged the agency to toughen its asbestos standard.

Richard Stickler, acting assistant labor secretary for MSHA said the final rule would "help improve health protection for miners who work in an environment where asbestos is present."

"Furthermore, it will help lower the risk of material impairment of health or functional capacity over a miner's working lifetime," Stickler said in a prepared statement.

The new MSHA asbestos limit covers exposure at metal and nonmetal mines, surface coal mines and surface areas of underground coal mines.

Exposure to asbestos has been associated with lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers, as well as asbestosis and other noncancerous respiratory diseases.

But for years, MSHA's permissible exposure limit allowed miners to be exposed to 20 times more asbestos than other workers covered by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's rules.

The MSHA and the OSHA rules now both limit exposure to 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter

The Labor Department IG recommended that MSHA change its rule after miners and their families began dying of asbestos exposure in the town of Libby, Mont.

MSHA began a rulemaking a year after the IG report was published, and then issued a proposed rule in July 2005. Safety advocates have been waiting for a final rule ever since.

Celeste Monforton, a former MSHA staffer and a public health researcher at George Washington University, said it is good that the agency finally toughened its exposure limit, but that change alone is far too narrow.

MSHA needs to come up with a broader rule that requires more steps to limit asbestos exposure and better monitor mining operations, Monforton said.

"Miners still don't have the same level of protections as other workers in the country," Monforton said Friday.

To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.