When it was discovered that radium could be used to treat cancerous tumours, entrepreneurs quickly seized the opportunity to promote it in a wide range of products: soap, pills, dressings, suppositories, toothpaste, cosmetics, jockstraps.
One of the most widespread uses of radium was in luminous dials for watches. Dial-painting was performed by women, often teenagers as young as 14. They used a technique called lip-pointing, which involved shaping the tip of a paintbrush with their mouths. They also prepared the radium-infused paint they used by mixing a powder with water. The powder was very fine and was got everywhere. On their clothes, in their hair. Their employer, Radium Dial, assured them the paint was perfectly harmless. It even claimed radium was good for them.
Radium poisoning can take years to manifest. With the dial painters one of the first symptoms was often teeth that became loose and fell out. The wounds they left refused to heal and oozed pus. Sometimes a jawbone crumbled. Dentists were perplexed.
Other dial-painters developed sarcomas. One woman's head swelled to twice its size. Another had a leg that became four inches shorter than the other. A third fainted from fright when she woke up in the middle of the night and saw herself in the mirror. She had not turned on the lights. Her face was glowing.
Radium Dial steadfastly maintained that the problems were not work-related, but knew the truth as early as 1925 and did everything in its power to cover up and evade blame. This mainly involved lying, but sometimes included dirty tricks. When the company agreed to have an autopsy performed on a recently deceased woman, her family asked that their own doctor be present. The company agreed, but arranged to have the autopsy performed before the doctor arrived. Diphtheria was given as the cause of death.
Many doctors happily allowed their patients to rack up enormous bills. Some were merely incompetent, others in the employ of the company were downright crooked. Part of the problem was that the dangers of radium poisoning were not well-known. That changed when a wealthy playboy named Eben Myers died in 1932 after drinking several thousand bottle of "radium water." A newspaper headline said, "The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off."
The afflicted women finally found a lawyer who agreed to take their case to court. Leonard Grossman was recommended by Clarence Darrow, and had a soft spot for the working class. For him, the cause was more important than the fee. He won the case, but the decision was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. The company involved used the statute of limitations to fight off paying financial damages..
The bulk of the book is taken up with the personal stories of the dial-painters and the terrible suffering they endured. It's a heart-rending account, one you will not easily forget.
