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Dirty Laundry: film and panel discussion

Event Details

March 4th at 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Normal Theater, 209 W. North Street, Normal, IL

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Dirty Laundry: film and panel discussion

The Museum, in partnership with Illinois State University Office of Sustainability, Environmental Health and Safety, and Department of Health Sciences, will be hosting a free viewing of the documentary Dirty Laundry at the Normal Theater on Tuesday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. Immediately following the film will be a panel discussion focusing on the impact chemicals and hazardous substances (such as asbestos) have on people and our environment.

Dirty Laundry follows two cousins across the United States as they search for answers about how their 90-year-old grandmother and housewife died from a rare form of cancer whose only cause is exposure to asbestos. The answer: asbestos dust on the clothes of her husband, who worked at Shell Oil’s Wood Reiver Refinery in Roxana, Illinois. Through interviews and research, they uncover a trail of corporate disinterest and broken families, bound together by a common thread—asbestos exposure and the death sentence of mesothelioma.

This film reveals the stark reality of corporate dissembling and the apparent disregard for both the lives lost and the lives still being placed at risk from the continued manufacture and use of asbestos, the creation of open asbestos waste sites, and the reckless excavation of contaminated ground.

Following the film, the panel discussion will focus on several topics including: air quality and the impact it has on people’s health (led by Dr. Guang Jin, Professor in Health Sciences at ISU), how asbestos and other hazardous building materials are handling in older facilities (led by Adam McCrary, Director of Environmental Health and Safety at ISU), and the impact asbestos exposure (including indirect exposure) had on the family of one worker at the UNARCO manufacturing plant located on Bloomington’s westside (led by Terry Redman, whose father, George, worked at UNARCO and ultimately died due to asbestos related disease in 1977). The discussion will be moderated by Mike Matejka, guest curator for the Museum’s current exhibit “A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County.”

This program is being held in conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibit A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County, which is sponsored by LiUNA! Midwest Region Laborers’ International Union of North America. Questions? Please contact the Education Department at education@mchistory.org or 309-827-0428.

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Dirty Laundry: film and panel discussion

The Museum, in partnership with Illinois State University Office of Sustainability, Environmental Health and Safety, and Department of Health Sciences, will be hosting a free viewing of the documentary Dirty Laundry at the Normal Theater on Tuesday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. Immediately following the film will be a panel discussion focusing on the impact chemicals and hazardous substances (such as asbestos) have on people and our environment.

Dirty Laundry follows two cousins across the United States as they search for answers about how their 90-year-old grandmother and housewife died from a rare form of cancer whose only cause is exposure to asbestos. The answer: asbestos dust on the clothes of her husband, who worked at Shell Oil’s Wood Reiver Refinery in Roxana, Illinois. Through interviews and research, they uncover a trail of corporate disinterest and broken families, bound together by a common thread—asbestos exposure and the death sentence of mesothelioma.

This film reveals the stark reality of corporate dissembling and the apparent disregard for both the lives lost and the lives still being placed at risk from the continued manufacture and use of asbestos, the creation of open asbestos waste sites, and the reckless excavation of contaminated ground.

Following the film, the panel discussion will focus on several topics including: air quality and the impact it has on people’s health (led by Dr. Guang Jin, Professor in Health Sciences at ISU), how asbestos and other hazardous building materials are handling in older facilities (led by Adam McCrary, Director of Environmental Health and Safety at ISU), and the impact asbestos exposure (including indirect exposure) had on the family of one worker at the UNARCO manufacturing plant located on Bloomington’s westside (led by Terry Redman, whose father, George, worked at UNARCO and ultimately died due to asbestos related disease in 1977). The discussion will be moderated by Mike Matejka, guest curator for the Museum’s current exhibit “A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County.”

This program is being held in conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibit A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County, which is sponsored by LiUNA! Midwest Region Laborers’ International Union of North America. Questions? Please contact the Education Department at education@mchistory.org or 309-827-0428.