-
Period: to
Radium Girls
-
Marie Curie Discovers Radium
Born 11-7-1967 Died 4-7-1934 Won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 and in 1911 for Chemistry. Created and manned mobile X ray units during World War 1. She may have saved a million men at the cost of her own. -
Radium Craze
Doramad Radioactive Toothpaste "Makes your teeth glow white". Radithor (contained radium salt) was a cure all for everything from high blood pressure to impotence. Made by William J.A. Bailey George Kunz made a radio-luminescent paint that was widely used in Europe. In Switzerland a researcher commented that it was easy to spot a painter at night as they would get flecks of paint in their hair. -
Radium Paint Takes Off
US Radium Corporation was founded in New York City where they made a Radium and Zinc Sulfide paint mixture that glowed in the dark. They called it Undark. The first World War set a high demand for glow in the dark paint as it was useful for watches and airplane instruments. The pain was also used everywhere you needed to read in low light. Street signs, theater seat numbers, keyhole locators, and house numbers. -
Radium Dial Corporation Founded
The Radium Dial Corpoation was founded in Ottawa Illinois.
At its peak it employed 1,000 women (young as 11) and made up to 4,300 dials per day. They were paid 1.5 cents per dial they made.
At its peak Radium was worth about $100,000 dollars per gram about 2.4 million today. -
People start to get sick
The powers that be told the workers that the radium paint was safe and this was the general thought at the time. That it would bring redness to your cheeks and not cancer. Many women complained of sore aching jaws and lethargy. People would spend money on radioactive creams and toothpaste and these workers would get it for free. They would paint their nails with it and rub it onto their cheeks. With all this exposure it was only a matter of time. -
First Radium Watch Death
Mollie Maggia was the first person we know about to die from painting watches. She saw a dentist for mouth pain and they found red ulcers all over her mouth and where able to pull out a few teeth. Returning a few days later dentist found more teeth falling out and with minimal effort broke her jaw. A few days later her lower jaw disappeared and soon after she passed. Officially she died of Syphilis but she actually had what came to be known as Radium Jaw. -
The fight begins
Pathologist Harrison Stanford Martland found that some of the women who died from Syphilis actually died from radiation poisoning from painting with radium and forming the tips of the brush with their lips. He found that Radium was far more dangerous when it was ingested versus on the skin. He stated that the radium with "honey combing" their bone. Many women had spinal fractures and shorted limbs. -
US Radium Corportation Sued
After the discovery in 1925 it took some effort to bring it to court at the law stated that all cases must be filled within 2 years of the incident but most women did not experience problems until years later. Eventually Raymond Berrey was able to sue the US Radium Corp. After a long fight the settled out of court.
The last Radium Girl died in 2014 at 107. She only worked a week and was asked to resign after she refused to put the paint brush in her mouth. -
Eben Byers
Was an amateur golf champion in 1905. After injuring his arm in 1927 he began to take Radithor after his doctor recommend it. He took several doses a day until October of 1930. After this he began to lose weight and his teeth fell out. He eventually died in 1932 was attributed to radiation poisoning but is was cancer not acute radiation sickness. -
Legacy Contines
For countless reasons we all owe the dead a debt of gratitude. Not only did they help by shedding light on radiation and how it effects our bodies. But also for how their legal action fueled the foundation of OSHA. Their case and many other like it helped create a organization that helps ensure the safety of all workers whether they want to be safe or not.