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Radium jaw, or radium necrosis, is a historic occupational disease brought on by the ingestion and subsequent absorption of radium into the bones of radium dial painters. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It also affected those consuming radium-laden patent medicines .
The inventor of radium dial paint, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky, died in November 1928, becoming the 16th known victim of poisoning by radium dial paint. He had gotten sick from radium in his hands, not the jaw, but the circumstances of his death helped the Radium Girls in court. [17]
His death on March 31, 1932, was attributed to "radiation poisoning" using the terminology of the time, but it was due to cancers, not acute radiation syndrome. [5] [8] Radium is known to emit alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. While alpha radiation has low penetrating ability and typically does not present a danger, ingestion of radium in the ...
Grace Fryer (14 March 1899 – 27 October 1933) [1] was an American dial painter and Radium Girl, [2] who sued U.S. Radium after suffering radium poisoning while employed painting watch faces. [3] Subsequently, joined by fellow workers Quinta McDonald, Albina Larice, Edna Hussman, and Katherine Schaub, Fryer brought a suit labelled in the media ...
As conditions worsened and the poisoning became deadly, dial painters took on the radium companies in lawsuits. Their legal action helped change the U.S.’s nascent workplace safety standards.
The radium fad or radium craze of the early 20th century was an early form of radioactive quackery that resulted in widespread marketing of radium-infused products as being beneficial to health. [1] Many radium products contained no actual radium, in part because it was prohibitively expensive, which turned out to be a grace, as high levels of ...
Radium dials were typically painted by young women, who used to 'point' their brushes by licking and shaping the bristles prior to painting the fine lines and numbers on the dials. This practice resulted in the ingestion of radium, which caused serious jaw-bone degeneration and malignancy and other dental diseases.
The company is notable for being involved in the radium poisoning of the Radium Girls. The workers in the factories were told that the radium paint was harmless. Radium's negative health effects were well-known at the time, however it was thought that small amounts of radium were not dangerous and even a cure for lack of energy. [1]