“It seemed wealthy consumers were much more worthy of protection than working-class girls; after all, dial-painting was still going on, even in 1933.”–Kate Moore, Radium Girls
This is a story of naivete, corporate greed, and injustice. The Curies discovered radium and it was a wonder drug that people could not get enough of. In addition to its medicinal properties, it glowed. This made it the perfect substance to paint on watch dials, airplane instrument panels, and anything else you wanted to glow in the dark. The radium was hand painted onto each of these items by young women with steady hands. They would often put the paint brush in their mouths to make the tip more fine. Their lips and teeth would glow afterwards from the residual radium.
These girls were paid extremely well compared to other factories and there was a glamour factor also–a glowing girl was more interesting than a non-glowing one. It was not all glamour, however, as Kate Moore relates. Many of them became sick, especially having trouble with their teeth and gums. Radium is cancer causing and these girls were getting sick and dying from their exposure to radium on a daily and concentrated basis.
As the correlation between the radium and sickness was discovered, the factories employing the girls did not warn them of the risks and did not compensate them for their medical bills. This is a fascinating, infuriating, and incredibly sad story. Moore’s prose brings these women and their stories to life and guarantees they are not forgotten.
Content Advisory: Descriptions of the effects of cancer, death