Worker advocates said they fear the past is prologue as they discussed the history of corporate malfeasance in hiding the dangers of asbestos at a Bloomington plant. Ericka Wills is a labor activist and professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Wills’ grandfather Willard Tipsord died of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos. Tipsord had worked at the west side plant in Bloomington and often came home with his clothes caked with white fibers that turned into knives in his lungs. Wills said her grandpa died when she was 6 years old, fading from a tall strapping healthy man to an invalid.
Interviews: Dr. Ericka Wills