The Undark Radium Girls

Grace Fryer, a worker for US Radium Corporation, and her co-workers didn't understand the dangers of the radium paint they worked with everyday, and if anything, enjoyed its peculiarities. The all female painting department at US Radium played around with this radium paint, known as Undark. The girls painted their nails, and even their teeth, and enjoyed the reactions of their friends when the lights went out. Fryer, however did think it was odd that after she blew her nose, the tissue glowed in the dark.

Radium became popular in 1902, when inventor William J. Hammer left Paris with a unique souvenir: radium salt crystals. The curious glowing properties got Hammer thinking. He decided to try mixing radium salt with zinc sulfide, because zinc sulfide glowed in the when exposed to radiation. After mixing this compound with glue, the first glow-in-the-dark paint was produced.

With the First World War underway, the demand for watches and airplane dials with luminescent indicators was sky high. US Radium filled this demand by employing 70 workers at a time to paint the indicators with Undark. The company supplied the US Government with indicators to outfit soldiers and airplanes.

At the time, most people viewed radium as a magical elixir, which could be used to cure a range of ailments. Drinking a radium brew was said to cure digestive track problems ranging from stomachaches to cancer. The idea that radium was a radioactive poison was the last thing on anyone’s mind. Few were aware of the potential harm Undark posed, aside from the owners for US Radium, and the scientists who worked for the company.

Fryer and her co-workers worked on a dusty, crowded factory floor. Each sat at a desk with a stack of dials and a bottle of Undark along with a camel hair paint brush. After applying a few strokes of Undark, the fine brush would start to loose its shape and become frayed. Following the directions of their instructors, the girls would wet the brushes with their lips to give the brushes back their original shape. "I think I pointed mine with my lips about six times to every watch dial. It didn't taste funny. It didn't have any taste, and I didn't know it was harmful," said Fryer.

Fryer left the factory in 1920 for a higher paying job as a bank teller. About two years later, her teeth began to loosen and fall out and she complained of jaw pain. After seeing several doctors, one decided she should undergo an X-ray. Using the primitive X-ray machine available at the time, the doctor discovered serious bone decay in her jaw unlike anything he had seen before. After consulting other doctors, they decided her former occupation was to blame. A doctor from Columbia University, named Frederick Flynn asked to examine her. Flynn declared her to be in great health, and just as healthy as him in fact. His colleague, who was present during the examination, agreed. Years later, it was discovered Flynn was not a doctor - he was a toxicologist on working for US Radium, and his colleague- the vice president of US Radium.

After deciding to sue US Radium, and spending 2 years looking for a lawyer, Fryer finally found someone willing to help her. US Radium had deep pockets, which frightened off most established lawyers. Eventually five other girls suffering the ills of Radium poisoning from the factory joined the law suit, and became known in the media as the Radium Girls. With the girls’ health  quickly declining, US Radium did whatever possible to delay the court proceedings, hoping the girls would pass away before a verdict could be reached. With the months dragging on, US Radium offered the girls an out-of-court settlement of $10,000 each and payment of any medical expenses. The amount, which is equivalent to approximately $100,000 today, was far less than what would have been awarded by the court. However, the girls decided to accept the settlement in hopes  they would be around long enough to enjoy it.

The precedent setting litigation created media sensation surrounding the case, turning it into a political lightning rod. The case resulted in the creation of stronger regulations governing labor safety standards, and made companies accountable for the health of their workers.

The last of the original five Radium Girls died in the 1930’s, with many of the company’s 4,000 painters suffering the same fate as the Radium Girls during the next several decades. The workers had each ingested several hundred microcuries per year. One tenth of a microcurie is now accepted as the maximum amount constituting safe exposure. Fryer’s journal, which she had kept during her employment at US Radium, is still too contaminated to handle without protection today.

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