The Radium Girls, a group of female factory workers, fell victim to the insidious grip of radiation poisoning as they meticulously painted radium dials with self-luminous paint. These incidents unfolded across three separate factories in the United States, each a chapter in this tragic tale.
The women, trusting the assurances that the paint was benign, unwittingly consumed perilous doses of radium. They were instructed to “point” their brushes on their lips, an act aimed at crafting fine tips for their work. In their zeal, some went so far as to paint their fingernails, faces, and even their teeth with this eerie, glowing substance.
The reasoning behind this directive was that using rags or water for cleaning required more time and materials. The paint’s composition, a deadly concoction of powdered radium, zinc sulfide (a phosphor), gum Arabic, and water, remained hidden behind a facade of deception.
The Origin of the Radium Girls
With the deafening declaration of war echoing in the distance, hordes of working-class women converged on the clandestine studio where their sinister employment awaited. Their task? To paint the instruments that would guide soldiers and pilots in the dark of night, imbued with the eerie glow of the newly discovered element — radium.
Marie Curie’s pioneering work with radium gave rise to this insidious trade just under two decades ago. Dial painting, described as the “elite job for the poor working girls,” beckoned with a siren’s call. It promised wages that eclipsed those of the ordinary factory laborer by more than threefold.
Those fortunate enough to secure a position found themselves among the top 5% of female workers nationwide, basking in the newfound financial freedom that arrived amidst the burgeoning tides of female empowerment.
Amid the gloom, many of these spirited souls were mere teenagers, their nimble fingers seemingly tailor-made for the delicate, artistic task. They whispered about the allure of this clandestine career, seeding their newfound profession through the tendrils of their familial and social networks. Often, entire clans of siblings joined in, forging an inexplicable unity within the studio’s walls.
The effects of radium exposure on some of the girls
But little did they know, as they dipped their brushes into the luminescent radium paint, that their vibrant futures were slowly being drained away and their fates intertwined in a web of impending darkness.
Between the years 1917 and 1926, the U.S. Radium Corporation, initially known as the Radium Luminous Material Corporation, was immersed in the intricate process of extracting and refining radium from carnotite ore, all in the pursuit of creating luminous paints that bore the market name “Undark.”
This ore was sourced from the depths of Paradox Valley in Colorado and various “Undark mines” scattered across Utah. Operating as a defense contractor, U.S. Radium played a pivotal role in supplying radio luminescent watches to the military, with their plant in Orange, New Jersey, employing a workforce of up to 300 individuals, predominantly women.
The women toiled under the guise of safety, unwittingly misled by the company.
What Really Happened to the Radium Girls?
U.S. Radium Corporation, known as USRC, enlisted the services of approximately 70 women to perform a range of tasks, including handling radium. Astonishingly, the owners and the scientists who possessed knowledge of the perils of radium deliberately shunned any contact with the substance.
Chemists employed lead screens, tongs, and masks within the plant to protect themselves from its malevolent influence.
USRC had even disseminated literature to the medical community, outlining the “injurious effects” of radium. Nonetheless, by 1925, a string of tragic deaths occurred, claiming the lives of USRC’s chief chemist, Dr. Edwin E. Leman, and several female workers. The uncanny resemblance of their fates spurred Dr. Harrison Martland, the County Physician of Newark, to initiate investigations.
It’s estimated that approximately 4,000 workers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border were commissioned by various corporations to embellish watch faces with radium. At USRC, each painter crafted her paint mixture within a small crucible, wielding camel hair brushes to apply the luminous substance to watch dials delicately.
Women painting alarm clock faces in the Ingersoll factory in January 1932.
The brushes swiftly lost their form after only a few strokes, compelling USRC supervisors to encourage their workforce to employ a horrifying technique – they were told to point the brushes with their lips, a chilling process known as “lip, dip, paint,” or even resort to using their tongues to maintain the brushes’ precision.
Unbeknownst to them, the radium’s true malevolence was concealed, and the Radium Girls, in moments of levity, painted their nails, teeth, and faces with the deadly luminescent substance produced within the factory. The consequences of this unknowing act of self-inflicted harm have left several of them resting in Orange’s somber Rosedale Cemetery.
The Radium Takes Hold
Dentists were at the forefront of diagnosing the myriad afflictions plaguing the dial painters early on. They witnessed dental miseries, from excruciating oral pain and loose teeth to disfiguring lesions and ulcers. Yet, even more sinister were the failures of tooth extractions to heal, a haunting sign of what lay beneath the surface.
Anemia, bone fractures, and the horrifying onset of necrosis in the jaw, a condition that would later bear the ominous name “radium jaw,” began to afflict these women. Their suffering extended beyond the physical realm as they endured the stifling suppression of menstruation and the cruel mantle of sterility.
To add a macabre layer to their torment, the X-ray machines employed by the medical investigators in the quest for answers may have unwittingly contributed to the workers’ deteriorating health by subjecting them to additional doses of radiation.
As the toll mounted, it became apparent that at least one of the medical examinations was nothing more than a cunning ruse, a tactic initiated by the defense contractor to spread a shroud of disinformation.
U.S. Radium and other watch-dial companies steadfastly rejected the notion that the ailing workers were victims of radium exposure. For a considerable time, doctors, dentists, and researchers bowed to the pressure from these companies, silencing their data in compliance with their demands.
In 1923, the first dial painter succumbed to her affliction. In a nightmarish scene, her jaw began to separate from her skull before her untimely demise.
By 1924, a haunting pall of sickness hung over the plant, with 50 women counted among the afflicted and a tragic dozen already departed. The insidious influence of the companies prompted medical professionals to attribute these worker deaths to alternative causes, and the shadow of syphilis, a notorious sexually transmitted infection of the time, was wielded to besmirch the reputations of these suffering women.
Radium jaw, a condition in which abscesses grow completely unchecked across the lower face. By this point in exposure, the victim is almost certainly dying.
The inventor of radium dial paint, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky, met his demise in November 1928, becoming the 16th known victim of radium dial paint poisoning. His affliction stemmed from contact with radium on his hands, not his jaw. However, the circumstances surrounding his death would play a crucial role in the Radium Girls’ pursuit of justice within the courtroom.
The women who undertook the harrowing task of painting those luminescent dials earned the eerie nickname “ghost girls.” Their daily exposure to radium dust left an indelible mark on them, causing their clothes, hair, and even their skin to emit an otherworldly glow.
Some of these women, perhaps inspired by the radiant magic they wielded during the day, chose to don their finest dresses while on the job.
They did so in anticipation of the grand nights that followed, where they would dance under the dazzling luminescence of their attire. In a surreal twist, a few even applied the radium-laced paint to their teeth, believing it would bless them with radiant smiles.
When their concerns about radium’s safety arose, their managers, driven by the company’s interests, falsely assured them that there was nothing to fear.
Unfortunately, the reality was starkly different. Radium, with its potent radioactivity, posed grave dangers, especially when one faced repeated exposure. Even luminaries like Marie Curie had not escaped its malevolent clutches, suffering radiation burns and ultimately succumbing to radiation exposure. Other researchers met a similarly grim fate.
The Culprits are Found
The tragic consequences of the Radium Girls’ occupation soon began to manifest. Among the earliest victims was Amelia (“Mollie”) Maggie, who had painted watches for the Radium Luminous Materials Corp. in Orange, New Jersey. Maggia’s ordeal commenced with a seemingly innocuous toothache, but it quickly escalated. One tooth after another required extraction, leaving painful ulcers, oozing pus, and incessant bleeding.
The affliction didn’t stop there; it encroached upon Maggia’s lower jaw, necessitating its removal, and ultimately invaded other parts of her body. Her life came to a tragic end on September 12, 1922, marked by a catastrophic hemorrhage.
Curiously, doctors, unable to discern the true cause of her condition, attributed her death to syphilis.
The shadows of sickness spread ominously, affecting more Radium Girls, each bearing the weight of agonizing symptoms reminiscent of Maggia’s suffering. For two long years, their employer vehemently disavowed any link between their tragic deaths and their occupation.
Yet, facing mounting controversy and a business downturn, the company finally relented and commissioned an independent study. This inquiry concluded that the painters had perished due to radium exposure’s pernicious effects. However, determined to escape culpability, the company countered with additional studies that reached the opposite conclusion, tarnishing the girls who had fallen ill.
A baffled public, swayed by the company’s disinformation campaign, continued to believe that radium was inherently safe.
In 1925, a pivotal moment arose with the work of pathologist Harrison Martland, who, through rigorous testing, definitively established that radium had insidiously poisoned the watch painters, systematically eroding their bodies from within.
An Illustration of Death and Radium Girls
The radium industry, faced with this damning evidence, tried to discredit Martland’s findings, but they were met with an unwavering resolve from the Radium Girls themselves. Realizing the gravity of their plight, many of these women understood that their days were numbered, yet they harbored a deep-seated desire to make a difference for their colleagues still toiling with the deadly substance.
In 1927, attorney Raymond Berry took up their cause, recognizing the urgency of their situation. With time short for many watch painters, they were compelled to accept an out-of-court settlement. Despite the devastating personal toll, their collective efforts thrust the issue of radium safety into the global spotlight, capturing headlines worldwide.
Yet, despite mounting evidence, the United States Radium Corporation remained unyielding in its denial of culpability, and women continued to fall ill and meet tragic ends. It wasn’t until 1938 that a courageous radium worker named Catherine Wolfe Donohue, standing on the precipice of life and death, successfully sued the Radium Dial Company over her debilitating illness, finally bringing closure to this painful chapter.
The legacy of the Radium Girls is immeasurable. Their case marked a watershed moment, being among the first instances in which a company was held accountable for the health and safety of its employees. Their struggle paved the way for a series of essential reforms.
It ultimately led to the creation of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), forever altering the landscape of workers’ rights and workplace safety.
RIP Victims.
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