[View the story “Asbestos: “Devil’s Dust: Exposed to poison. Exposing the truth.”” on Storify]

Asbestos: “Devil’s Dust: Exposed to poison. Exposing the truth.”

On November 11 and 12, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will air Devil’s Dust. The two-part TV miniseries chronicles the true-life corporate scandal of James Hardie Industries, an industrial materials company that extensively manufactured asbestos throughout the 20th century.

Storified by Linda Reinstein · Sat, Nov 10 2012 07:48:56

This isn’t just an Australian story. The U.S.still hasn’t banned asbestos. U.S. importation of asbestos increased 13% between 2010 and 2011.

Mattpeacock
                                                                  Matt Peacock (third from the left) with members of the Devil’s Dust cast

Devil’s Dust Trailer

The hero of Devil’s Dust is Bernie Banton, aJames Hardie employee who, despite suffering from pleural mesothelioma, foughttirelessly for truth, justice, and victims’ compensation. Watch the grippingperformance of Anthony Hayes as Banton in the trailer below. 
Devil’s Dust | 11 & 12 November at 8.30pm, ABC1newonabctv

VIDEO INTERVIEW with Matt Peacock: Author of Killer Company, the Book That Inspired Devil’s Dust

Since Matt Peacock began writing about theasbestos struggle in 1977, little has changed. He sums up his message about asbestos with three key points: “Don’t believe everything you hear. Don’t assume something is safe. Dosomething about it.”  Listen to ADAO’sexclusive interview with Peacock here. 

Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Interview with Matt Peacock, author of "Killer Company"adao90278
Killer Company – The book that inspired the ABC1 series Devil’s DustThe book that inspired the ABC1 series Devil’s Dust. The shocking story of Australia’s biggest corporate scandal. ABC journalist Matt Pea…

Additional Information about Devil’s Dust

ADAO wishes to thank the Australian BroadcastingCorporation, author Matt Peacock, and actor Anthony Hayes for sharing Devil’s Dustwith us. For more about the characters featured in Devil’s Dust and a timeline ofthe real-life events, continue below. 

Devil’s Dust Characters

Characters – Devils Dust – ABC TVWhen Bernie starts working at James Hardie’s Camellia factory (then known as Hardie BI) in 1968 as a lathe operator, he and his colleague…
Characters – Devils Dust – ABC TV"It’s something he believes in very much and he is very driven," says Ewen Leslie. "In some ways – and I don’t know whether this is true …
Characters – Devils Dust – ABC TVA strongly religious woman, Karen seems more conciliatory than her husband and seeks to show Bernie another viewpoint, but she doesn’t al…
Characters – Devils Dust – ABC TVHe starts his career in advertising before using his father-in-law’s connections with a mid-level Hardie executive to land the role of in…

Timeline of Bernie Banton and James Hardie

Timeline – Devils Dust – ABC TV1888 Scottish immigrant James Hardie opens a leather trading office in Melbourne where fellow Scot Andrew Reid soon becomes his business …