Radium Girls: The Dark History of a Deadly Glow

Tonight I’m talking about the experience of hundreds of girls who innocently signed up to work in clock factories hoping to generate money to feed their families and help on the homefront during World War I. They used luminous paint made of radium on the clocks and dials, getting it onto their clothing, skin and even in their mouths. Yet, they had no idea that radium was toxic and the substance they worked with every day was literally eating them alive from the inside out - not until it was far too late, and many of these young ladies began to experience absolutely gruesome symptoms and side effects.

Known as the "radium girls", these brave young women would go up against some of the biggest companies in North America at the time, fighting for justice and changes in labour laws. Sadly, many of them would never live to see the positive impact they made. The story of the radium girls is both tragic and an important lesson on corporate greed.

Sources:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/tuesday-ferry-boat-survivor-radium-girls-author-no-possum-drop-and-more-1.2941016/remembering-mae-keane-the-last-of-the-radium-girls-1.2941019

https://www.buzzfeed.com/authorkatemoore/the-light-that-does-not-lie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRkeghENceY

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/madame-curies-passion-74183598/#:~:text=Marie%20extracted%20pure%20radium%20salts,purified%20and%20converted%20into%20chlorides.

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