marbear’s Reviews > The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women > Status Update

(i may be mixing up the two companies at points) but also how are we still going through trials? all the while there are still girls working in these factories! it's been close to two decades at this point!

there's no doubt that the reason usrc could take advantage of their workers for over 10 years was a combination of the facts that they were 1) young women and 2) factory workers

almost instantly after a wealthy, male consumer of radium products died from radium poisoning, radium products were pulled from shelves and made illegal

-fired a worker for having a limp (caused by the radium poisoning)

-refused settlements
-when faced with lawsuits, blamed the girls (lying about the instructions given to them) and spread rumors that they were dying of syphilis
-conspired with a doctor (NOT A REAL DOCTOR) to lie to new patients about their condition when possible and convince them to settle out of court when necessary

i mean, cartoonishly villainous stuff

it's unfortunate how all our modern safety regulations come with the sacrifice of the people who came before us. this reminds me of mouth pipetting, which was protocol in our industry until the 1970s. it's still discussed at work today when we talk about biohazard precautions

never take your safety protections for granted, and always be cautious of the bare minimum legal requirements for your employer

their blood was "abnormal" after as little as 2 weeks of work. their bone marrow turned red; their breath was radioactive; their corpses glowed in their coffins. underground, they'll continue to be radioactive for hundreds of years.

you literally couldnt write a book more horrifying than this true story

-lied about the results of an investigation

-ignored years of warnings, suspicions, and questions
-ignored pleas for help from workers' families

-the company quietly forbids lip pointing, while lying about the reason why. at this point, years have passed, multiple girls have died, and still more are becoming sick

id heard of this before, but id always assumed the dangers of radium werent known, which would have made this tragic enough. but while it was not largely known to the public, scientists and those in the industry were WELL aware. the company involved (so far)

-equipped the male scientists with safety gear, meanwhile
-not only did not provide the female factory workers with any safety equipment, LIED to them and said