Studied by 21 people
radium abbreviation
Ra
lip pointing
a technique used by workers where they used their lips to make the brush tips sharp
radium health benefits
radioactivity was believed to add energy to your body
tonics, cosmetics, food
cure fatigue
radium properties
glows in the dark
radioactive yippee
Marie Curie
discovered radium and died of radiation poisoning
Mollie Maggia
one of the first to die of radium poisoning in 1922, although it was said to be syphilis or rheumatism; her doctor removed her lower jaw by hand
USRC
United States Radium Corporation; ran the plant that Grace Fryer worked at in Orange, NJ
benefits of dial-painter jobs
allowed women to contribute in WW1
higher paying than other factory jobs (top 5%)
radium dust made their dresses look cool
labeled as “artists”
young women had small hands, which were good to paint with
Harrison Martland
a doctor that devised tests to prove that radium caused death in 1925
statute of limitations
restrictions that forced the radium girls to file their cases within 2 years of the event occurring (in this case, the radium poisoning)
Catherine Donohue (nee Wolfe)
dial-painter for Radium Dial in Ottawa, Illinois; testified against Radium Dial on her deathbed in 1938
Grace Fryer
dial-painter who raised awareness about radium poisoning by filing a case against USRC in 1927; settled out of court
Raymond Berry
lawyer who worked with Grace Fryer
Leonard Grossman
Catherine Donohue’s lawyer
radium girls legacy
first time that a company was held responsible for workers’ deaths
led to OSHA and workplace safety regulations
helped understand radiation in the human body
Radithor
a tonic of distilled water with radium dissolved in it
Why is radium dangerous?
it is chemically similar to calcium, so it is incorporated into bones whenever it is ingested and makes the bones brittle/honeycombed
radium jaw
when the jawbone becomes brittle due to radium
sarcoma
cancer that begins in bones or connective tissue; many radium girls contracted this after several years
symptoms of radium poisoning
radium jaw
fatigue
toothaches
shortened / fractured legs
lung and bone cancer
radium poisoning cover-up
USRC commissioned an expert investigation into radium poisoning in 1924, but when the results found that radium caused death, the president of USRC paid for more studies that denied it and lied to the Department of Labor about the original study
Note 
Flashcard (20)