Radium Girls

The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint containing radium. The paint was applied to the dials to make them glow in the dark. The painting was done by women at three different factories: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and a third facility in Waterbury, Connecticut. The term "Radium Girls" now collectively refers to the women who worked at these facilities and suffered the tragic consequences of their work.

Working Conditions

The radium dial painting technique required workers to handle radium paint, which was mixed with a phosphorescent compound. The women were instructed to shape the paintbrushes to a fine point with their lips to maintain precision while painting the small watch dials. This practice led to the ingestion of small amounts of radium. At the time, the dangers of radium were not widely known, and the women were not provided with any protective measures or informed of the potential health risks.

Health Effects

Over time, the women began to experience severe health problems due to their exposure to radium. Symptoms included severe anemia, bone fractures, necrosis of the jaw (a condition later known as "radium jaw"), and various forms of cancer. Many of the Radium Girls died from their illnesses, and those who survived often faced lifelong health complications.

Legal Battle and Impact

As the health problems among the Radium Girls became more apparent, the women sought legal recourse against the companies they worked for. Their lawsuits, which began in the mid-1920s, were instrumental in establishing workers' rights to safe working conditions and compensation for occupational diseases.

In 1927, a group of women from the Orange, New Jersey, factory won a lawsuit against the United States Radium Corporation. The case was highly publicized and raised awareness of the dangers of radium exposure. In 1938, the Illinois Industrial Commission awarded compensation to several former workers from the Ottawa, Illinois, factory. These legal victories, along with ongoing advocacy and media attention, led to increased regulation of the radium industry and improvements in workplace safety standards.

The story of the Radium Girls had a lasting impact on both the field of occupational health and the labor movement in the United States. It highlighted the importance of workplace safety regulations, the need for proper communication of potential hazards to workers, and the responsibility of employers to protect their employees from harm.

See Also

• Radium
• Occupational disease
• Workers' rights

References

1. Clark, Claudia (1987). Radium Girls: Women and Industrial Health Reform, 1910-1935. University of North Carolina Press.
2. Moore, Kate (2017). The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women. Sourcebooks.

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