1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 2 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:14,319 Speaker 1: Volgebaum here. The first illnesses appeared around nineteen twenty, and 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: initially doctors were baffled. Otherwise healthy young women were suddenly 4 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: sick with a number of ailments, including anemia and cancer. 5 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: But the most concerning symptom these working class women had 6 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 1: was the crosis of the jaw. Their faces were literally 7 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: rotting away. So what did these young women have in 8 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: common other than their symptoms. They were all factory workers. 9 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: Every one of them worked in radium dial factories in 10 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut. The women who were falling 11 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: ill were employed as painters of radium dials. They painted 12 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: watch dials, clocks, and instruments for ships and aircraft with 13 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: glow in the dark paint. Eventually, they'd learned that it 14 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: was radium poisoning from the paint that was slowly killing them. Later, 15 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: as lawsuits against their employers mounted, the press dubbed the 16 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: women the Radium Girls. For the article this episode is 17 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: based on How Stuff Works. Spoke by email with James 18 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: stem A, curator of the National Museum of Nuclear Science 19 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: and History. He explained when Marie Currey and pr Currey 20 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: discovered radium in eighteen ninety eight. It was only the 21 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: third radioactive element discovered. While radium had no practical applications 22 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: at first, it was soon discovered that the radiation emitted 23 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: by radium could kill living cells, and doctors began using 24 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: it to treat cancers. The stem said. A new treatment 25 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: for cancer obviously created a sensation, and many people concluded 26 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: that if radiation could cure cancer, then it must be 27 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: good for you. In general, both legitimate medical practitioners and 28 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: frauds grabbed the idea and ran with it. A Radium 29 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: became a major fat It was promoted as a cure 30 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: for anything and everything. A company sold devices that infused 31 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: radium's radiation into drinking water, and Stems said a Radium 32 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: also appeared in other consumer products, such as cleaning products, disinfectants, 33 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: and cosmetics. Companies added the word radium to their products 34 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: simply as a marketing tool, even when there was no 35 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: radium used. Another industry also began using radium, but not 36 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: for its curative abilities On its own. The element glows 37 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,359 Speaker 1: dimly in the dark. When mixed with a substance like zinc, 38 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,359 Speaker 1: it takes on a bright green color that can make 39 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: for a glowing paint. Industrial manufacturers realized that this paint, 40 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: known as radium paint, could be used to make instruments 41 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: in clocks visible at night. Demand grew as World War 42 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: One began. In nineteen fourteen, the United States Radium Corporation, 43 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: or USRC was founded. USRC hired young women to delicately 44 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: apply paint to these instruments. Their small hands were suited 45 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: to the detailed work, and the jobs paid well and 46 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 1: were considered somewhat prestigious, especially considering the lack of employment 47 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: opportunities for women at the time. A Stem said at 48 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: the height of the industry in the early nineteen twenties, 49 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: about two thousand women were employed. Estimates of the total 50 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: number of women employed in the industry between nineteen seventeen 51 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: and nineteen thirty five vary, but a number approaching ten 52 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:31,839 Speaker 1: thousand is not unreasonable. The women would mix their own 53 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: paint from radium dust and other ingredients. They were soon 54 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: known as ghost girls because the dust made their skin, hair, 55 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: and clothes glow when they went out after work. Some 56 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: of the women even used radium paint on their teeth 57 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: to brighten their smiles, but even those who didn't still 58 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: often had direct contact with the paint. The Stem explained. 59 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: Oh once the paint was mixed, the extremely fine detail 60 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: painting required very sharply point paint brushes. To ensure a 61 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: sufficiently sharp point, The women were told to use their 62 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: lips and tongue to shape the brush, and they had 63 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: to do this repeatedly throughout the day to keep that 64 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:17,679 Speaker 1: fine point. The women's employers assured them that the paint 65 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: was harmless, but soon many of the women fell ill, 66 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: some severely with necrosis of the jaw. Stems said this 67 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: extremely painful and disfiguring condition was the most common of 68 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 1: the diseases suffered by the radium girls. A radium poisoning 69 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: caused the victim's jaws to disintegrate over time, eventually killing them. 70 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: By the time the first dial painter died in nineteen 71 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: twenty three, the medical community had begun to suspect that 72 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:50,160 Speaker 1: radium exposure was the cause. By the late nineteen twenties, 73 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: many of the women had fallen dangerously ill several had died. 74 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: Although USRC continued to assure the workers that they were safe, 75 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: the company knew that working with radium was dangerous. Stem 76 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: said A report commissioned by USRC in the early nineteen 77 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: twenties concluded that the total lack of safety precautions was 78 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: putting the dial painters in danger. The company submitted a 79 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: falsified version of the report to officials and suppressed its findings, 80 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: continuing to refute the idea that its radium dial paint 81 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:27,600 Speaker 1: was making anyone sick. Stems said, when one of usrc's 82 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: senior chemists died of a plastic anemia in nineteen twenty five, 83 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 1: it became obvious that there was a connection. Studies by 84 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: officials in New Jersey proved the women were suffering from 85 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,480 Speaker 1: radiation poisoning and that it had come from the radium 86 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: that they were exposed to in their workplace. By the 87 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: late nineteen twenties, five women sued USRC in Orange, New Jersey, 88 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 1: starting with Grace Friar. It took Friar two years to 89 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: find an attorney to take the case, but once she did, 90 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,799 Speaker 1: four other women joined. Paper headlines dubbed them the living 91 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:07,840 Speaker 1: Dead and the Radium Girls. Their attorney, Raymond Barry, hired 92 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: thirty year old physicist Elizabeth Hughes, who used an electroscope 93 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: to measure radioactivity in the breadth of the five dial painters. 94 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: Hughes testified that all five women had ingested so much 95 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: radium that their breath was toxic. Hughes testimony gained worldwide attention. 96 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: To avoid the bad publicity, USRC agreed to an out 97 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: of court settlement. STEM said it was one of the 98 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: first instances in the United States in which employers were 99 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: held libel for the health and safety of their employees. 100 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: It led to the creation of workplace safety regulations and 101 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: of government oversight organizations like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 102 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: By nineteen twenty seven, more than fifty women had died 103 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 1: because of radium paint poisoning. But the Radium Girls story 104 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: doesn't end there. Their story saved consumers lives too. They're 105 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 1: suffering made the public aware of the dangers of radium a. 106 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: STEM said. By nineteen thirty five, the use of radium 107 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: in most consumer products had ended and government regulation banned 108 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: its use. A Radium was still used in aircraft instruments 109 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: with a lot more safety precautions in place until the 110 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, but today it's been replaced by technology that's 111 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: a lot less deadly, and some of the radium girls 112 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: lived long lives. Mabel Williams, for instance, worked at USRC 113 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: at age sixteen. She lived to the ripe old age 114 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: of one hundred and four. Another may Keene, died in 115 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen at the age of one hundred and seven. 116 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: They are legends in American and women's history. Today's episode 117 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: is based on the article The Radium Girl's Dark Story 118 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 1: Still Glows with Death End Deceit on houstuffworks dot com, 119 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: written by Cape Morgan. You'd like to hear more about 120 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: the Radium Girls story, check out the first episode of 121 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,240 Speaker 1: my other podcasts, American Shadows. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio 122 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: in partnership withhoustuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. 123 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 124 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.