Undark and the Radium Girls (2006)

One part of the saga of “why didn&#x27;t anyone do anything?” is that this was a state&#x27;s rights problem originally:<p>&gt; In New Jersey, reformers won their fight for a law allowing compensation for “radium necrosis.” State labor and health agencies were able to halt lip pointing, but their power over industry was sometimes limited. For example, the New Jersey Labor Department issued to U.S. Radium Corporation an order to tighten safety for its dial painters — “comply or close.” It closed and moved elsewhere. Federal agencies mostly deferred to state authority over radium. [1]<p>If you have never seen the ads, they are a head trip too. People telling you how drinking radioactive water will give you “natural energy” and so forth. [2]<p>The craziest part is that it didn&#x27;t stop due to lawsuits or regulations, it stopped because nuclear energy plants proliferated and gave us many other isotopes to work with, most of them without the 1000+ year half life of radium. The feds didn&#x27;t get really involved until <i>fricking 9&#x2F;11</i>, if you can believe it. [3]<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nrc.gov&#x2F;reading-rm&#x2F;basic-ref&#x2F;students&#x2F;history-101&#x2F;radium-parti-opening-pandoras-box.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nrc.gov&#x2F;reading-rm&#x2F;basic-ref&#x2F;students&#x2F;history-10...</a><p>2. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;flashbak.com&#x2F;vintage-produce-of-the-day-cure-all-radium-butter-baths-and-drinking-water-16263&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;flashbak.com&#x2F;vintage-produce-of-the-day-cure-all-rad...</a><p>3. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nrc.gov&#x2F;reading-rm&#x2F;basic-ref&#x2F;students&#x2F;history-101&#x2F;radium-part2-trying-to-close-pandoras-box.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nrc.gov&#x2F;reading-rm&#x2F;basic-ref&#x2F;students&#x2F;history-10...</a>

My friend Rachel Sumner wrote a song about this that won the John Lennon National Songwriting Contest last year.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rachelsumner.bandcamp.com&#x2F;track&#x2F;radium-girls-curie-eleison" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;rachelsumner.bandcamp.com&#x2F;track&#x2F;radium-girls-curie-e...</a><p>Come hear it live at Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival over Labor Day weekend. Odds are I’ll be working the merch tent for them.

Radium, Lead, Asbestos, Nicotene, R-12 refrigerant, Social Media<p>Seems like a lot of things that are an initial good, but turn out to be not so hot after a decade or so.

Always such an awful story to read and re-remember. The invisible hand sometimes seems to engage in some rather horrible things for the sake of a buck.

The excellent podcast The Constant has a great episode on the health benefits of Radium...<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.constantpodcast.com&#x2F;episodes&#x2F;for-that-healthy-glow" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.constantpodcast.com&#x2F;episodes&#x2F;for-that-healthy-gl...</a>

It&#x27;s cool to see an article with almost 20 years of comments

&gt; supervisors assured them that rosy cheeks would be the only physical side effect to swallowing the radium-laced pigment<p>A nice reminder that you shouldn&#x27;t drink the koolaid unless you can actually see your bosses doing it.

There is a great ”Behind the Bastards” episode on William Bailey’s involvement in spreading radiation poisoning that also covers the Radium girls [0]<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.iheart.com&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;105-behind-the-bastards-29236323&#x2F;episode&#x2F;part-one-william-bailey-the-gwyneth-134837792&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.iheart.com&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;105-behind-the-bastards-29236...</a>

You know, who knows what happened to the investors in US Radium? Where did their funds go, and is there a trail of other problems (or bodies) with their subsequent investments? I&#x27;d like to know who I hypothetically should and shouldn&#x27;t be investing my money with, as I want the world to be a better place.

If you read almost any literature taking place the first half of the 20th century, you&#x27;ll see that a lot of industries were highly abusive of workers, not just radium industry. I&#x27;m sure it&#x27;s even worse pre-20th century.<p>For example:<p>- coal mining (read: &quot;The Rocket Boys&quot; by Homer Hickam) - tons of coal mining injury, death, and chronic illness (black lung). Stakeholders were aware of the causes of black lung but put profit over people.<p>- horse racing (read: &quot;Seabiscuit&quot; by Laura Hillenbrand) - tons of jockey injury and death (not to mention the pressure jockeys were under to engage in bulimia and other unhealthy practices). Super high jockey suicide rates. Stakeholders were aware but put profit over people.

&gt; The mysterious deaths were often blamed on syphilis to undermine the womens’ reputations, and many doctors and dentists inexplicably cooperated with the powerful company’s disinformation campaign.<p>What is wrong with people?!

Unions came up in the middle of the 19th century in the US and 70 years later the women at undark were exploited in the worst kind of ways. Also the regulating bodies were obviously ineffective. Social innovations take a long time to succeed…

The article didn&#x27;t say whether any of the people involved were prosecuted.

&gt; The report which the company provided to the New Jersey Department of Labor credited Cecil Drinker as the author, however the ominous descriptions of unhealthy conditions were replaced with glowing praise<p>How did this blatant fraud not automatically prompt the government to come down hard on USR?!