The Radium Girls

Radium, a radioactive element, was discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie. During World War I, in the USA, radium was advertised as a miracle substance which can cure cancer, could make women charming, and can pump men’s sex drive. It was also used in military to make necessary products such as watches, glow in the dark. In New Jersey (1916) a factory was opened to produce these glowing watches. It employed roughly 70 women, the first of many thousands who would work in similar factories across the United States. It was a profitable and prestigious profession. The women were told to point the brushes with their lips when applying the paint to the small dials, which was a delicate process. The paint made the dials glow because it included radium and its effects were unknown at the time. With practically every brushstroke, the women were absorbing the deadly element. They called them the ‘Radium Girls’.

Because the paint was comprised of powdered radium, gum arabic, and water; the ladies were advised to point their brushes in this direction rather of using rags or a water rinse. Some people used the glowing material to paint their fingernails, faces, and teeth. They also wore their dancing dresses to work so that they could shine on dance floor. When they inquired about the safety of radium, their management informed them that they had nothing to be concerned about. As we know now, this was not the case. Radium is exceedingly harmful, especially when exposed repeatedly. 

Credit: Daily Herald Archive/SSPL via Getty Images

Soon after, the Radium Girls started to feel the effects of radium on their bodies. Amelia Maggia, known as ‘Mollie’ who worked for Radium Luminous Materials Corp. was one of the earliest victims. Her symptoms started with a toothache. The aching tooth was removed but later, the tooth next to it had to be pulled as well. She started to feel painful sores and the empty place where her teeth was started to bleed and filled with pus. Maggia's strange illness extended from her mouths to her lower jaw, which had to be removed, and subsequently to other portions of her body. Maggia died of a severe haemorrhage or internal bleeding on September 12, 1922. Doctors were baffled as to what had caused her illness, and they concluded that she had died of syphilis. 

Other women began to experience the same symptoms as Maggia had, became deathly sick. Of course, their company strongly rejected any link between the girls' deaths and their job for two years. Harrison Martland, a pathologist, conducted a test in 1925 that showed clearly that radium poisoned the women by killing their bodies from the inside. The Radium Girls fought back against the radium industry's attempts to invalidate Martland's findings. Everybody knew that women’s days were short, but they still wanted to protect their co-workers who were still working with the lethal material. Raymond Berry, an attorney, agreed to take their case in 1927. With only months to live, several of the watch painters were obliged to accept an “out-of-court settlement”. The United States Radium Corporation denied any involvement, and women continued to become ill and die as a result. The dispute was ultimately resolved in 1938, when a dying radium worker named Catherine Wolfe Donohue sued the Radium Dial Co. over her sickness.

The Radium Girls’ impact cannot be underestimated. According to Britannica article written by Don Vaughan, “Their case was among the first in which a company was held responsible for the health and safety of its employees, and it led to a variety of reforms as well as to the creation of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration".

Sources

Vaughan, Don. "Radium Girls: The Women Who Fought for Their Lives in a Killer Workplace". Encyclopedia Britannica, Invalid Date, https://www.britannica.com/story/radium-girls-the-women-who-fought-for-their-lives-in-a-killer-workplace. 

"Radium Girls". National Museum of American History. 2020-09-10.

Moore, Kate (2017). The Radium Girls, The Dark Story of America's Shining Women. sourcebooks.com. p. 366. ISBN 978-1492649366.