Radium Girls

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The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium dials – watch dials and hands with self-luminous paint. The incidents occurred at three factories in the United States: one in Orange, New Jersey, beginning around 1917; one in Ottawa, Illinois, beginning in the early 1920s; and one in Waterbury, Connecticut, also in the 1920s. After being told that the paint was harmless, the women in each facility ingested deadly amounts of radium after being instructed to "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a fine tip. The women were instructed to point their brushes in this way because using rags or a water rinse caused them to use more time and material; the paint was made from powdered radium, zinc sulfide (a phosphor), gum arabic, and water. The Radium Girls had lasting effects on the labor laws in the United States and Europe due to numerous lawsuits filed after worker deaths and illnesses caused by ingestion of radium.

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