re: The Radium Girls — still glowing in their coffins

Was it radium that was used to make the old Timex watches glow in the dark?

There's a great documentary called "The Poisoner's Handbook" that is about Charles Norris. He was the Chief Medical Examiner for New York City from 1918 to 1935. The Radium Girls incident was during his tenure. The documentary also covers his research and findings around tetra ethyl lead, carbon monoxide poisoning and denatured alcohol poisoning. Speaking of government regulations, I had no idea what denatured alcohol was all about. Heard it all my life but never bothered to look it up. If I recall correctly, during Prohibition, the government forced manufacturers to poison alcohol extracted from petroleum so individuals or speak easys couldn't use it to make their own liquor. Unfortunately, unscrupulous bar owners and alcoholics didn't let that stop them from doing so and thousands died as a result.

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As much as I deplore governmental regulatory intrusion into our lives it just goes to prove how careless and cruel workers were treated in the past.


Don't go too far with that.

What it really demonstrates is that a large part of the safety regulations we have today are because lots of people were killed due to ignorance. People simply didn't know any better.

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People do what theyre told and you could easily pay 18 yo girls $30/hr today to do the same thing and they wouldnt think twice.

There is a need for regulations to keep companies honest.

Damn right they did. No one knew how dangerous Radium is.

If I was working there, I would've done the same thing. Paint some on my Johnson and impress my lady when my dick glows in the dark.

The referred to documentary "The Poisoner's Handbook" is fantastic. It was a American Experience doc on PBS awhile back and is available on YouTube.
Highly recommend for all the things we take for granted today including the lack of corruption form the coroner's office.

Back at the turn of the century, trial juries by default knew coroners were on the take and not to be trusted, coroners office ran scams with funeral homes to ransom family members dead relatives. And if one had a life insurance policy on someone, the coroner could help the claim along, or hold it up.

It works well for certain cancers. Fancier technologies sounds cooler so that's what is marketed.

The companies the dial painters worked for were pure evil in what lengths they would go to cover themselves.


One girl died in the hospital. The company had reps go to the hospital and try to take the body away before the family could claim it. When that didn't work...they told the family they would pay for an autopsy. The family said only if their own doctor could be present. The company told the family doctor the wrong time on purpose. By the time the doctor arrived...autopsy already done. They refused to give the results to the family. Had the medical examiner lie and say there was no evidence of radium poisoning in her bones. Even had the examiner remove bones from her body that clearly showed radium poisoning.

They would also do medical tests on their current workers. Never reveal the results to the girls. Any girl that actually tested radioactive...they would lie to her face and tell her she was completely healthy. Kept insisting that radium was not only harmless...but that it would make their cheeks rosier and improve their health.