"The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint at the United States Radium factory in Orange, New Jersey, around 1917. The women, who had been told the paint was harmless, ingested deadly amounts of radium by licking their paintbrushes to give them a fine point; some also painted their fingernails, face, and teeth with the glowing substance.
Five of the women challenged their employer in a case that established the right of individual workers who contract occupational diseases to sue their employers."
(wikipedia)
(Some use of radium in daily basic materials)
(The factory then and now)
(Radium discovered to be lethal)
(The Radium Girls saga holds an important place in the history of both the field of health physics and the labor rights movement)
A simple and enlightening film made by Stacey Anderson.
The original documentary, called "Radium City", made in 1987, is not available for public view. More information here.
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