![]() ![]() Radiation measurements from dial painters’ bodies were even used to establish the tolerance level for radium and provided scientific observations throughout their lives. Management at these companies knew the dangers involved and even avoided radium exposure to themselves however, this information was withheld from the dial painters who were required to use their mouths to bring the paintbrush to a fine point for the tiny parts.Īlthough it was a preventable tragedy, the Radium Girls’ saga led to significant improvements in labor rights and also helped establish legal precedents and labor safety standards in the US which has undoubtably saved many lives. This was to provide glow in the dark functionality, but the workers became ill from radiation exposure and some even died because of it. The Radium Girls were women hired by watch companies to paint dials with a radium-based glowing paint. Radium-based paint was banned in the 1960s.This wristwatch hand is an artifact of the historic Radium Girls of the 1920s–30s. Following an eventual lawsuit by former dial painters, the industry made further changes to improve worker safety. Upon receipt of the original research report, New Jersey’s labor commissioner ruled that all of Drinker’s safety recommendations be implemented, a move that led to the closure of the factory. Confronted with the evidence that Roeder had acted in bad faith, the Drinkers ignored the continued threat of a lawsuit and published the report. “ has a copy of your report and it shows that ‘every girl is in perfect condition.’ Do you suppose Roeder could do such a thing as to issue a forged report in your name?” she wrote in a 1925 letter to Katherine Drinker. Radium had submitted Cecil Drinker’s report to the New Jersey Department of Labor-with the findings altered to present the company in a more positive light. Through a contact in the National Consumers League, she learned that U.S. While Drinker reluctantly agreed not to publish the report, his HSPH colleague Alice Hamilton refused to back down. When he learned of Drinker’s plans to publish the HSPH team’s report, Roeder threatened to sue. He insisted that a contagious infection contracted outside the factory must be to blame and referred to an internal report that refuted Cecil Drinker’s findings-a report he refused to show Drinker. He issued a report to the company emphatically recommending safety precautions. Cecil Drinker observed that every inch of the painters glowed, “even the corsets.”ĭrinker was convinced that exposure to continuous doses of radium was causing the women’s health problems, which included excruciatingly painful necrosis of the jaw. Supervisors assured the all-female workforce-some as young as 15-that the paint was safe, and perhaps even beautifying. At a time when many believed radium had healing properties and it was served up in tonics and spa treatments, the women thought nothing of painting their hair, nails, and teeth as a party trick. Dial painters were encouraged to lick their paintbrushes to keep the points sharp, each time ingesting small amounts of the radium-based paint. The factory was saturated with radium-contaminated dust-and no steps had been taken to protect the workers from radioactive material. Drinker, along with fellow Harvard School of Public Health faculty members Katherine Drinker, his wife, and William Castle, agreed to visit the Orange, New Jersey, factory to observe the watch dial painters at work and to speak with their doctors. Eager to halt a mounting scandal, company President Arthur Roeder contacted industrial hygiene expert Cecil Drinker to investigate. Radium Corporation’s luminous watch dial factory were mysteriously falling ill and dying. ![]()
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