Dirty Laundry

How did a 90-year-old grandmother and housewife die from a rare form of cancer whose only cause is exposure to asbestos? Answer: asbestos dust on the clothes of her husband, who worked at Shell Oil's Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Illinois. Fueled by curiosity over their grandmother's surprising death, two cousins embark on a 4200 mile bicycle tour across the United States in search of answers. 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.

Wishing they could have asked their grandma more about her life and illness, Conor and Zack's story starts with that very scenario. In an ethereal white room, furnished with a lone chair and a vintage television set, the cousins take turns engaging in a conversation with their Grandmother Iva. Armed with what they've learned from both her and initial interviews with family members, the cousins begin their journey of discovery.

From coast to coast, the cousins interview surviving family members, doctors, activists, and community members who are still living with actively toxic asbestos sites. The 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.