Who were the Radium Girls?

The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials and hands with self-luminous paint. According to Wikipedia, 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, in the 1920s. Their lawsuits had lasting effects on labor law and are remembered as significant in the development of occupational safety and health standards. [1] [2]

According to the Library of Congress blog, the work was well-paid skilled labor for women at the time, and when the United States entered the First World War in 1917 some viewed it as a patriotic contribution, since the women painted dials for soldiers and military instruments. The paint was made from powdered radium, zinc sulfide, gum arabic and water. The women were told it was harmless and were instructed to point their brushes on their lips to give them a fine tip, because using rags or a water rinse took more time and material. In this way they swallowed radium. [2] [1]

History.com describes symptoms that at first seemed minor, such as an aching tooth, back pain or a sore foot, then worsened into spontaneous fractures, anemia, jaw deterioration and cancerous tumors. The Library of Congress blog notes that some executives and scientists in the industry were increasingly aware of the dangers and protected themselves, while the workers were not warned. [3] [2]

Kate Moore's account says Marguerite Carlough was the first dial-painter to sue the radium firms, and that publicity around her case led the Waterbury Clock Company to ban lip-pointing. In New Jersey, five women sued the United States Radium Corporation in 1927: Grace Fryer, Edna Hussman, Katherine Schaub, Quinta McDonald and Albina Larice. Fryer is described as the driving force behind the group. A study led by Newark pathologist Harrison Martland found high radioactivity in living and dead dial painters, effectively diagnosing radium poisoning. [4] [1] [3]

Their case was hampered by a two-year statute of limitations, and a delay requested by the company drew newspaper criticism. On June 4, 1928, the New Jersey women accepted an out-of-court settlement. [2]

The Radium Dial company opened a facility in Ottawa, Illinois, in late 1922, and Catherine Wolfe Donohue was hired there. The company claimed the New Jersey problems came from the element mesothorium and that its own paint, containing only radium, was safe. Statute of limitations problems again hindered the women when they tried to sue in 1935. They had their hearing before the Illinois Industrial Commission on July 23, 1937, and won in 1938. Donohue died on July 27, 1938, the day after the company's attorneys filed another appeal. On October 23, 1939, the US Supreme Court declined to hear the company's final appeal, so the ruling stood. The Library of Congress blog notes that many other suffering dial-painters never sued. [2]