How a Forced Bad Habit Destroyed a Woman's Jaw

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When Mae Keane was let go from her prestigious job at a factory, painting watch dials with glow in the dark paint, she never imagined she would want to thank her boss years later. For in just a few years, the watch dial painters fell ill by the dozens, impaired by all manner of vicious diseases. Their teeth fell out, their jaws came unhinged, their legs snapped under their own weight, and even their spines crumbled. Out of those top female workers now laid bodies, "still glowing in their coffins". This is how a company legally took the lives of their own staff and escaped full responsibility: The story of the Radium Girls.
[Research]
Jenny C.
Sources:
[The Radium Girls]
Kate Moore: The Radium Girls www.kate-moore.com/the-radium...
www.buzzfeed.com/authorkatemo...
www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/...
/ still-glowing-in-their...
blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandher...
www.damninteresting.com/undar...
americanhistory.si.edu/girlho...
[Mae Keane]
www.npr.org/transcripts/37351...
[Marie Curie & Pierre Curie]
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/the...
[Undark & The United States Radium Company]
www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/1iden...
cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/Sit...
[Radium]
www.theatlantic.com/health/ar...
[Workplace Hazards and Occupational Safety | The Radium Girl Lawsuit]
www.britannica.com/story/radi...
www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/mag...
www.cnn.com/style/article/rad...
www.todayifoundout.com/index....
interestingengineering.com/th...
[Other Sources]
pastebin.com/nGvDfFx6
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[@Brew]

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[@DailyTrashy]

ill pass

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

nej

[@scottbella9562]

@@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890 why is your profile name so long

[@ceo2.028]

@@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890 är du svensk

[@RivRob]

honey is a scam i saved too much money

[@vlrginizer927]

Imagine going to war scared to death that you might not go back and see your wife again only to go home and find out she's dead

[@Dragonemperess]

And she made the watch you used which lead to her death.

[@anonymousnlonely3315]

Oh god

[@selkieseal545]

Or it was claimed that it was an STI!

[@TiffyVella1]

Imagine working as hard as you could to house and feed yourself and your family only to find that your employer willfully lied to you, disregarded your safety in order to make more money. And then you died.

[@combatveteran240]

@@Dragonemperess was only a matter of time

[@jacobkudrowich]

Calling ingesting radium on a daily basis "A bad habit" is quite an understatement. To put it in perspective, Radium is a million times more radioactive than uranium and 50 times more radioactive than plutonium. Absolute insanity

[@lindelheimen]

Surprising not a lot of nations use it for nuclear weapons

[@wtice4632]

@BuddyTheRookie oh dear you dont happen to have granite counter tops in your home now do you?

[@DaimyoD0]

@BuddyTheRookie Cell phones release radio waves, a non-ionizing form of radiation. It poses no risk of radiation poisoning or cancer. You're only scared of it because it is technology that you don't understand. Sunlight is intensely more dangerous.

[@PotatoeJoe69]

@@lindelheimen Not all radioactive material is suitable for warheads.

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

There are probably traces of radium in cigarettes. Also in Brazil nuts but you’d probably poison yourself from too much selenium before you eat enough to get radium poisoning.

[@seanhannemann7721]

We all say "how terrible, glad this won't ever happen again" when companies are still to this day poisoning their workers and consumers. Teflon, microplastic, talc, aluminum, even leaded airplane fuel. Every generation will have their own 'radium girls' story, sorry to say it.

[@thisisme3238]

My concern for the world we are living in today is radiation from cell phone screens...we all spend a lot of time on our phones, and they do put out radiation. 🤔

[@MODElAIRPLANE100]

@@thisisme3238 they do, and there seem to be some links between EM radiation and negative health outcomes, although usually minor. However it is important to understand that the type of radiation our phones emit is very different from what we usually call radioactive(gamma, beta and alpha rays)

[@Scrble1]

@@thisisme3238 While cell phones do emit radiation, the energy of it is too low to cause any harm to us

[@thisisme3238]

@@Scrble1 Let's hope that is the case, we won't really know for now...but maybe later.

[@thisisme3238]

@@MODElAIRPLANE100 That's what I read on another platform, that they "very well can cause health problems." It's too soon for any of us to know for now, let's hope for the best for all of us.

[@Jellyfish146]

Let's be clear: she was very unaware it was a "bad habit" like none of them knew the dangers

[@jenjones90]

It wasn't even a habit...they were instructed to do it by their managers.

[@feridedogan7653]

It wasnt a habbit too . A habbit is something u cant Stop to do.

[@oniikor]

@@feridedogan7653 you can stop habits? wdym

[@MoodyMooMoo]

@@oniikor it’s harder to stop a habit because you’re so used to doing it.

[@jennawebb4225]

The real question is: WHY? Why are the managers doing this to another human being(s)?

[@lianarose1384]

Just the fact that the male workers making the paint were given heavy protection and did not even touch it and the women were made to literally eat the paint says so much about their dismissive attitude towards women in general, misogyny had a huge role to play in this as well as classism

[@brunoslybruno]

and if what someone else said is true, they only started changing & trying to protect their workers once the male ones started getting affected too, this is very horrible in so many ways not only the women were treated as trash, even their own male scientists were led to be poisoned because their lack of care, and only then they started doing something, but by that point they were already poisoning everyone j e e z

[@freepalestine1673]

So they tell us about how women got radiation poisoning because people then had a bad understanding of radiation, but they dont tell us that we actually did understand radiation but didnt care, like what is this? Dont need to be a woman to find this very frustrating. I mean I'm a guy but I guess as a minority I understand this is just how it is. No representation and and people who actually have representation would never touch us with a 10 ft pole cuz we the ones running the economy here in the west. I guess it was like that back then, but instead of minorities it was women.

[@idrinkgasoline72]

Luckily this horrible business harmed less than a few hundred people and didn't last too long.

[@Freya778]

@@idrinkgasoline72 Actually it was around 4000 women I think.

[@Joshkiddy15.]

It was the 1920s u really expected anything less??

[@Arcanist_Gaming]

I'm impressed that the one lady lived to 107. She must have had _exemplary_ genes.

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

My great grandma lived to be that age. I don’t think she ever had cancer though.

[@maxonmathew4557]

Imagine how long she could have lived if she did not work at the radium factory

[@SamanthaSmith-mw7hi]

Maybe she got super powers lol not quite a radioactive spider but...

[@mikeoxmall69420]

Rad resistance +200 lol

[@johnnyvivic8730]

Well she was terminated by US Radium. It's not stated in the video how long she spent there, just that she was "one of the women let go by one of the many radium dial factories." 18:06 Regardless, 107 years is a long time for anyone to live.

[@thegamernailtech3555]

Saying the Radium girls had a “bad habit” after they were TOLD to do that is kinda bad taste 😢

[@Beedostudios3721]

Her working at the USRC did not affect her (for the most part). She worked there for too little to have her life shortened by a few years. It probably just made her more prone to cancer. What a good thing she left though.

[@TiffyVella1]

Well said. The women had no bad habits, and were not to blame. They were doing what they were told in order to keep their jobs and livelihoods.

[@Beedostudios3721]

@@TiffyVella1 exactly.

[@MarcelaElviraTimis]

" *forced* bad habit "

[@Shrek_Has_Covid19]

radium does not have a bad taste

[@asmoday2838]

The presiding judge being a stakeholder in US Radium is, my friends, what we call a conflict of interest.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

And sadly, things like this continue to be in full practice even to this day.

[@LathropLdST]

Look up the commission that investigated the wreck of the Titanic...

[@asmoday2838]

@@anthonydelfino6171 You right, though.

[@ChicagoMel23]

@@anthonydelfino6171 how when it’s illegal?

[@angryotter9129]

@@ChicagoMel23 money is more important than following the law. It’s called corruption.

[@blaakrose]

Hard to imagine how people used radium in so many things. Many people young in age probably died nationwide from radiation.

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

Also they were full of carbon-14 from the above ground nuke tests. The carbon-14 levels are still higher than normal. Some of the mutations they cause don’t show up until the next generation or so.

[@ijustdraw8108]

They used radium in tooth paste and jewlery. It was seen as a beauty thing for women.

[@Zeldur]

I've heard this story many times but it's still tragic. So glad that synthetic glow in the dark things are around today

[@Localghost5075]

@BuddyTheRookie phones give off about 1 watt/second of non-ionizing radiation, and The Sun gives off approx. 384600000000000000000000000 watts/second of non-ionizing radiation. If you think phones give you radiation poisoning, wait until you hear about the place called "the outdoors". (radium emmits ionizing radiation, the kind in nuclear reactors and atomic bombs)

[@racheallange2056]

I have as well and it is still just so sad.

[@zachtwilightwindwaker596]

I don't think those are radium based.

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

Nowadays we use phosphorescent zinc sulfide.

[@nuuuuuut]

@BuddyTheRookie Radium emits ionizing radiation, cell phones emit non-ionizing. There is a huge difference, we're not being poisoned by cell phones.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

This tragic story makes me happy that more and more research and scientific information is easily accessible in today’s world, if only they knew back then.

[@danko5866]

Ah we meet again

[@-crybaby-1054]

Your everywhere

[@iliyashapirov7720]

@@-crybaby-1054 you're*

[@NotHPotter]

They did. The managers and scientists dressed appropriately to protect themselves; the women were just seen as expendable.

[@gerharddamm5933]

That’s your take away? Accidents happen out of ignorance, sure. But this story is about corruption and corporate unwillingness to correct wrongs. You saw how men were given protective equipment while they denied the dangers of radium.

[@sei916]

I love how angry he sounds while talking about this. Because it’s well deserved, and this kind of stuff still happens today.

[@The_Void_Constellation]

Ah, the radium girls. Such an interesting yet disturbing and tragic story

[@Irish381]

Very disturbing and intriguing at the same time! Pun intended 🧟🤢🤑

[@waltof2504]

Oh this was a thing... I thought it was made up

[@Un1234l]

Interesting and relevant story because of how history repeats with people trusting big corporations with sketchy unstudied injections.

[@44absol]

"good LORD what is happening in THERE" "bioluminescent syphilis" "bioluminescent syphilis? at all times of year, all at once, affecting all of your workers, localized entirely within your factory." "...yes." "may i see it?" "no."

[@PhoenixArtz000]

is is this smoked hams-

[@44absol]

@@PhoenixArtz000 that's not smoke. it's steam. steam from the steamed clams i was commenting about

[@vikbys]

"What if... We were to disguise the radium poisoning we've caused, by saying it's syphilis instead...? Hohohoho, delightfully devilish!"

[@yourbookisexceptionallylou4906]

thank u for the laugh, kind stranger

[@Magical_Trash]

“Well, ur an odd fellow, but I must say u paint a good watch”

[@thatenbyowen7039]

There's a play about the Radium Girls! Specifically, Grace Fryer, and I was able to perform in it. It is such a tragic story, but I was so glad to be able to help spread it to other people.

[@iCarus_A]

Our Highschool theater club did the Radium Girls play too! One interesting thing was that in the play (or at least our version of it), the "manager" told the workers to not get the paint in their mouths, but the floor overseer then demanded the girls to do it anyway to save costs

[@itssj974]

Yes! Seeing the play in high school was how I learned about the Radium Girls.

[@emo-gu9zn]

Ugh the high-school in my district did it but I never saw it. I wish I did

[@writingisfun9842]

I may be a kid here, but I saw there was a movie on Netflix, and that had interested me. I went to read a book on it and it explained some more about it. The girls themselves used the paint on their clothes secretly to glow in the dark.

[@alicemontrose5399]

I've heard this story many times and every time it's equally infuriating. Those poor girls didn't have the slightest idea of just how dangerous the paint was and the audacity of the employers is even more horrifying 😔

[@clarimm6675]

I'm so glad you're covering the tragic story of the so-called "radium girls"! It's so sad to hear of their fate and even enraging when you learn that the factories only ever changed their way once the male doctors started suffering as well (don't know if you cover this part but that's what I read in so so many reports about this topic)

[@maven9323]

Is glow in the dark stick Radium, i got a little in my mouth when i bit it, (Years ago) googled it it says it is

[@aqilardi5266]

@@maven9323 No it is not, radium would glow for years while glowsticks only glow for minutes/hours. It's mostly hydrogen peroxide and fluorophore

[@_core221]

@@maven9323 nope, glow sticks do not contain radium

[@oohh_no_my_back_its_broken9552]

@@maven9323 most glow in the dark this days are synthetic and non-toxic for safety, it's fine if accidentally consumed in very small amount but can still get you sick

[@TwitchyWitchy]

Corporations are never your friends. Nor do they care about you no matter how hard they try to spin that yarn. Never forget it.

[@shadow_of_thoth]

But they said they would love and care about me for only $29.99 a month... :(

[@twocvbloke]

No matter how many times this story comes up, it makes me feel sick to think that they got away with the poisoning of those women, all thanks to having friends in high places on their books to keep from paying what was rightfully due to the women and their families...

[@rinzler9775]

100 years from now: "No matter how often this story comes up, it makes me sick to think they got so many people to take that vax"

[@crossgear3042]

This still happens today too. Thats the worst part.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

Makes me wonder what stories our children and grand children will tell about the things our employers get away with today. A big part of why this happened was ignorance on the part of the worker, and even now, businesses are perfectly happy to jeopardize the health and safety of their workers if it means they can turn out more profits.

[@andrewmoore7014]

Not necessarily work-related, but... how much plastic do you suppose is in your body right now? Microplastics are a thing, and I bet we'll hear a lot more about that in the years to come. "BPA-free" doesn't mean "won't put plastic inside of you", by the way.

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

Like the mRNA vaccines

[@anitacrumbly]

@@nuclearcatbaby1131 🙄

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

@@anitacrumbly One of the creators of those says they’re dangerous but nobody is listening to him. Just like how nobody listened to Marie Curie when she told them how dangerous radium is.

[@anitacrumbly]

@@nuclearcatbaby1131 sources please

[@Blueninja-xt4ci]

As soon as you said "glow in the dark paint" I know exactly what you were talking about. The radium girls.

[@SorrowfulSophia]

This is terrifying! And sad that evil greedy CEO's have always existed in every generation :(

[@ICantThinkOfANam3]

Humanity has come to a stage where they will do alot of low things such as poisoning others just for some paper-

[@Levittchen4G]

This is the system of capitalism working as intended

[@Joshkiddy15.]

@@Levittchen4G it has nothing to do with capitalism it’s just human greed.

[@TheSwedishSalamander]

@@Joshkiddy15. Capitalism is literally based on human greed bud.

[@Joshkiddy15.]

@@TheSwedishSalamander nah humans been greedy since the Dawn on of time even before an economic system.

[@qorv4973]

this video should be renamed " how an abusive workplace environment destroyed her jaw"

[@zeusathena26]

The companies lawyers, men, & judge should've spent their lives in prison, & lost all their money, etc. It's inexcusable.

[@amexicangorilla2901]

Heard about this story when I was doing my OSHA class, it's pretty tragic.

[@user-hm9xv7sx8j]

"Remember kids, use protection, or your bones will glow in the dark." My new favourite sentence.

[@icarusbinns3156]

Every time I hear more and more about the Radium Girls, and how horribly they were treated… I feel oddly guilty. One of the managers of a dial-painting factory was… my great-great-grandfather. (I actually have the kitchen table he had. It doesn’t set off Geiger counters, and our cats love it). I used to think it was so cool that he’d worked with Madame Curie. He had a watch fob gifted by the Curies made of radium, and had one of the glowing pocket watches. But he was still a part of history that treated young women as disposable.

[@mew976]

Your ancestors don't always define you,don't blame your self.

[@icarusbinns3156]

@@mew976 I know. But I still feel awkward and bad. Like… I’m tied to this piece of history, and it’s so unsettling to know that while learning more and more horror facts of the time

[@chrismdb5686]

Human history is a series of injustices and sins. Rather than dwell on the past misdeeds of your ancestors work to be better than they were. Dwelling on the past does nothing.

[@riskvideos]

This story always makes me sad. Those poor ladies went through their own personal body horrors.

[@bishoukun]

The series netflix has on them is actually wonderfully done. Worth watching.

[@creepy_artist]

How is it called? I want to watch it

[@ScienceVocalsMusic]

Name?

[@zellrang]

@@creepy_artist it was also called Radium Girls... At least that is what the google said... I can't find radium girls on my netflix, is it because I'm on a different country?

[@MODElAIRPLANE100]

@@zellrang depends, if its a Netflix original, might be a country issue, if its not, their lease of the rights might have ended already

[@TiffyVella1]

@@zellrang Could be. We have Netflix in Australia, but we only get a small portion of Netflix content for our money. Bit of a rip-off, really.

[@ashproof]

Oh no. I’ve only been watching for 10 seconds and I know where this is going. Reminds me of the dude who drank the water that was radiated. Lost his whole jaw and part of his neck.

[@demonkitty_toebeans]

I think I know what you are talking about!!

[@dorotabenesova5212]

Eben Byers?

[@nickyblue4866]

The picture of him with no jaw is horrifying

[@demonkitty_toebeans]

@@nickyblue4866 yeah is awful

[@demonkitty_toebeans]

@@dorotabenesova5212 yep

[@XL-sn1jx]

Brew, you need to do more of these make a series out of it. Corporations, governments, pharmaceutical etc who did something heinous to humans knowingly

[@penedrador]

and still do. when not to us, then to the poor in Asia and Africa

[@LathropLdST]

@@penedrador LatinAmerica. See how Coca Cola steals water from poor towns.

[@gokudomatic]

I'm not sure I can take so much. The subjects are interesting, but also causing excessive anxiety.

[@rendomstranger8698]

@@penedrador Don't forget South America. The word banana republic didn't come into existence by coincidence.

[@Un1234l]

@@penedrador You literally have to see what happened in 2019-2023 with the forced injections of unstudied effects. Where millions are adversely affected but the powers that cover it up.

[@Deku_Stu]

I was part of a High School play about the Radium Girls years ago titled, well, "Radium Girls". Learning about everything that happened was an important part of the production for us and I'm sure everyone involved will never forget what happened. I ended up playing Roeder himself, who was one of the biggest parts in the show. I still feel very strange about it all of these years later having to give a somewhat sympathetic angle to someone who allowed a tragedy on this scale to happen. I don't regret playing the character, but it still haunts me in a strange way. I'm really glad to see you covering this story.

[@bensoncheung2801]

69th 👍

[@CraterCuber]

I am currently in my high school's production of Radium Girls and I am playing Roeder as well... It's been one of my favorite roles I've played because it's really challenged me as an actor and as a person. That ending monologue is so amazing yet so brutal to get right... I have a couple weeks before performances and an extra one on top of that before the competition so hopefully I can get it down by then 🤞!

[@charlesajones77]

I would be somewhat wary to put regular paint in my mouth, let alone radioactive paint.

[@crowdemon_archives]

And my paints (acrylic and oils) aren't even radioactive!

[@viy4581]

It's coz we live in 2022..ignorance was too common then

[@I_am_ENSanity]

I remember hearing this years ago when I was talking with friends about how much stuff has changed in the ways of medicine and science over all.

[@perkon_]

Every time someone tells me companies and the government cares about you. I think of this story.

[@AdeleiTeillana]

The complete indifference to others' suffering and disregard for others' health that pervaded so much of our "upper class" (employers and politicians) up until very recently is just disgusting. And even now I'm sure that there are things going on that fifty years from now, we'll realize were just as bad.

[@lildiamond6235]

Yes there are. Take for example Facebook moderator job. Workers are never given the proper mental health support. And Mark Zuckerberg says “ they are overreacting “

[@GrandDukeMushroom]

Up until now and unto ... you mean. Nuclear plants, pollution, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and neonicotinoids causing bee death and cancer lol

[@red_velvetcake1759]

There are still things like this unfortunately. Johnson and Johnson talcum powder was recently banned in the US because it was found to contain asbestos, and thousands of women (not even their workers, just regular customers) who regularly used it developed cancer. It's not been banned in the UK and is one of the biggest brands.

[@Zoey--]

Teflon. Dupont.

[@kieranh2005]

They (the 'upper class' you mentioned) still don't care about others health. We are just numbers to them. And unlike farm animals, which would represent an investment, we have no value to them beyond the work we produce.

[@seafire380]

OSHA rules are written in blood, somebody paid for every protection

[@roku401]

This is so f*cking true!!!

[@anthonydelfino6171]

My father worked for OSHA until his retirement, and it was always so sad to know this was entirely true, but still see companies trying to thumb their nose at safety standards they were supposed to follow. And even sadder to hear the employees complain about the safety standards they were supposed to follow. (We had more than a few trips places where he would pull the car over to go reprimand a construction superintendant or something similar for violations he would just see while we were on our way somewhere)

[@luvondarox]

Not even 20 seconds in, and I'm like "Oh, no. Radium Girls."

[@sagejungwirth4155]

I will never look at glow in the dark skeleton Halloween props the same way again, those poor women 😢

[@anthonydelfino6171]

modern day glow in the dark items, thankfully, aren't made with the same materials. Radium glows all the time without needing a light source first to energize it, if that makes you feel any better.

[@Makenza_]

Why just the glow in the dark skeletons? Halloween is literally a day where people make death fun.

[@manslaughter3180]

Wow, sexism and ableism is truly strong with this one. Absolutely disgusting, companies are literally never your friends and sometimes their owners are straight up your enemies.

[@LaikaLycanthrope]

They used radium in stuff well after the 60s. I had a radium watch in the 70s as a kid. And when I was in cadets in the early 80s, the _newer_ compasses had radiation warning stickers on them; the older ones did not (but were still non-phosphorous glow-in-the-dark, because you have to be able to see a military compass in the dark.)

[@IAMST4RZ]

It is just so cruel how the men would just ignore them when they made complaints, I really don't understand why it took so long for the woman to get so called ''justice''because what those woman got was not justice. Calling this a ''bad habit'' was a understatement really because those woman were forced.

[@j.d.4697]

Horrifying!!! Issues like that were especially common in the Victorian era in the UK, which was a time of crazy amounts of new discoveries and inventions. Radioactivity was thought to be healing, electricity was the new cool thing to own but was transported in wires wrapped in paper or bare wires, hanging from the ceiling for anyone to touch, it was a mad time and no doubt the inspiration for the steampunk genre.

[@FlammaVulpes]

The harm some people have deliberately caused others for money makes me want to throw up.

[@possumperson471]

i lived in the same town as one of these watch factories. it was the elgin watch factory, in elgin, illinois. i always heard about it growing up

[@shshhnsnsb1238]

“Radium girls” sounds like a sci-fi magical girl show

[@golfwangsummer]

💀

[@serenitymiralador]

When I was in middle school, we went to the high school to see a play about the Radium Girls Just thinking about it and watching the video makes me happy that we know that Radium is harmful but it makes me sad thinking about all the ladies that passed away because they weren’t aware it was harmful… May they Rest In Peace

[@gaillewis5472]

I heard about this decades ago. It still haunts me how little regulation and knowledge there was back then.

[@eroraf8637]

There are no words for how disgusting and reprehensible this story is. I feel sick to my stomach. You should do a collab with Kyle Hill sometime, he loves teaching people about radiation stuff.

[@videogamefan101]

So rather than On the Hill, the Brew Crew would be With the Hill.

[@nickd3157]

Yeah the radium thing was tragic. Look at the “health” products and trends out right now, not to mention other stuff we do daily, they could be just as toxic, although the risk is much lower today it is still there.

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

The new 💉 ‘s for example

[@araisikewai]

And then for the people who wear those radiated pendant to claim their reddish skin as proof that those health pendant works as intended.

[@undeadprincess5726]

@@nuclearcatbaby1131 the vaccines do not have radiation in them.

[@nuclearcatbaby1131]

@@undeadprincess5726 I never said they did. They may however mutate DNA or at the very least interfere with RNA like radiation.

[@acidicdiamond]

@@nuclearcatbaby1131 Vaccines do not alter DNA.

[@SWCMooth]

There's more to the story too. It's a story they told us as school children in my home town including removal of items some of those girls painted, night jokes where the girls would paint their faces and run around glowing and what happened to the materials after the buildings were torn down. There was a clock kept on the mantel in city hall that when they removed it, years later the shelf still sang in radioactivity.

[@SWCMooth]

oh and a study dug up the girls after death...

[@XD4Lifeington]

"Up to us to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again" If only this were a thing of the past, and not seemingly the constant state in which we operate. Little has changed.

[@ChicagoMel23]

Disagree. There’s a lot more insurance of worker safety.

[@l1585]

Many things have changed - Safer precautions and protective gear - Technology laying off workers - Medical advancements The amount of current workplace deaths isn't nearly as much as it was a century ago. *18,000-21,000* people died from work-related accidents in *1912* , and *23,000* industrial deaths occurred in *1913* . If you want the source it's documented by the National Safety Council and Buraeu of Labor Statistics. According to the National Safety Council work-place deaths decreased from *37 per 100,000 to 4 per 100,000* from *1933 to 1997*

[@henrycalde1991]

The radium girls? Reminds me of that story of that guy that drank radioactive water every day and his jaw came off. When he died he was placed in a special lead coffin and he was tested a while ago again to see his radiation levels,they were still through the roof

[@soxpeewee]

Liquid Sunshine Radium Infused Mineral Drink or something like that

[@TenmaChaan]

This is not mentioned in the video, but they checked the remains of one of the radium girls back in 2017, surprisingly (or not) her skeleton still gives off the radioactive glow...

[@natalia_00123]

He mentioned it actually at some point in this video.

[@johnnyvivic8730]

That's insane.

[@aimayue4715]

He did mention at 1:38 that the bodies are "still glowing in their coffins."

[@soxpeewee]

Jeebus

[@lasagnalover6960]

It wasn't really a "bad habit", it was their job and what they were told to do.

[@hannahlee1740]

I was in a play about this story right before the pandemic. It was called these shining lives. There was not a dry eye in house during each performance. It’s such a powerful story.

[@PrettiePessimistik]

Oh this is such an insane story I can't believe they did this. And the asbestos too. Omg! The did so many crazy things that were so deadly!

[@MonochromeWench]

"bad habit" isn't quite accurate when in the video it is said that it was part of the job description. Have to wonder if this was the source of the glowy depiction of radioactive things that became common even though most radioactive substances don't have that property

[@Tiresias55]

Truely terrible what other humans can do to each other for money. My blood boils at the injustice of it, especially the failure of the legal system to properly pursue the culprits. Yes, something good did come out of it, though the fact remains that despite our modern ideas and the majority of man kind valuing each other, there will always be those out there ready and willing to sell their fellow man to make their own life better.

[@Un1234l]

Past few years proved this with the forced injections that people still think were "safe and effective"

[@ahlalkubur]

The way US Radium delay the trial until the women are at their death's door is.... really infuriating...

[@jcnot9712]

Brew’s topics: 💀 😵☠️ The intro theme song: 💃 🕺

[@dragonslayer101]

It is so infuriating how women were given less safety precautions than men when handling with dangerous elements like radium! Did people back then honestly think that women were indestructible forces of nature and were immune to the effects of radium? No just plain sexism.🤦‍♂️

[@Mithranprincess]

I'd like to say something positive but then I remember hysteria and that chainsaws were made for cesarean births..

[@dragastarr2926]

@@Mithranprincess WHAT

[@chimeraofscarlet8610]

@@Mithranprincess it was not motorized to be fair

[@Mithranprincess]

@@chimeraofscarlet8610 tbh I can take a small but of comfort knowing the motorized the hysteria device before the chainsaw I suppose 😅

[@rockhoggaming]

it had nothing to do with being sexist. practically nothing was known about radiation and its potential effects on the human body. it wasn't common knowledge that radiation is dangerous (of course not all types/amount just general knowledge to stay away from anything radioactive)

[@elaynebubb8201]

nice "Inside" reference.... that's how the world works I always find radiation poisoning very interesting and this story is always chilling

[@unisophia]

you forgot to mention that the graves of the deceased radium girls continued to glow long after they were buried and there were also problems that later led to exhumation and reburial of their glowing dead bodies with all the due precautions. a very grim story.

[@rammuertoanimations4664]

I know it was a time where scientifically they didn't know any better. The real problem here though is how companies will rabidly market something flashy without considering the implications. I won't be surprised if history repeats itself despite our leaps in knowledge

[@ubernerrd]

Tobacco, leaded gasoline, teflon, microplastics, BPA, PFAS, etc, etc. Corporations will gladly poison people if it means making more money.

[@lizxu322]

Oh but they knew better. They protected the men and made them wear protective clothing while they told women to lick the brushes.

[@farrahcitraning5584]

This has got to be one of the most depressing cases you covered Brew :( no matter how many times I watch it it still saddens me so much. Those poor girls

[@Rashghar1337]

I'm native french so I decided to stop the video on a background file that was passing on the video. The attention to detail is on point. It really is french research from Mrs. Curie!

[@Ninjanimegamer]

Whats even scarier is the amount of radium that is still in and around all of the old factories in Waterbury. Not only is radium still in the ground but radium deposits have been found in the naugatuck river that runs through waterbury. Some people in waterbury come in contact with radium everyday and they dont even know it.

[@Dragonemperess]

As soon as you mentioned a woman siting down with a watch, I knew where this was going. This still makes me "oh-no".

[@benmcreynolds8581]

This is my favorite video you've done. This is such an important subject and the stories of these women are beyond worth sharing in such a manner. This was very well done. I love the dark sarcasm sense of humor that you had about "how the world works" when showing the facts of corruption and abuse of power and mistreatment of good average citizens. I love your content. It's really grown on me. BTW that brand name was the least creative name Ive ever heard. It's like calling a apple a "unorange"....?

[@acheleg]

the public didnt know the dangers

[@_arachnid8286]

SO EXCITED TO FINALLY HEAR YOU TALKING ABOUT THIS STORY!! It's sad but so very interesting.

[@_ducky_625]

Still can’t believe ppl back then thought radium was harmless it’s just so crazy to me.

[@iyanubanks100]

I’ve heard about the Radium Girls. Such a sad story 💔😞

[@warrensteel9954]

Every safety rule is written in blood. This kind of corporate behavior did not stop here though. The lawyers just got better at keeping the stories out of the news...😔

[@praveenraj5879]

You managed to collect Such a great amount of detail and depth for every single information.Great research.

[@majordisappointment8692]

What a despicable time period for health and safety of good men and women and the total greed of unscrupulous companies. Those individuals needed to be told the truth about what they were handling like that would have happened. They deserved better than the agonizing death they received. Rest in piece Radium Girls....

[@braxtonantkowiak6401]

Weird, I just learned about this in class learning about poisons

[@strooy]

ask questions to your grandparents while u can. their sudden disease might be your "oh this is what they had" 10 years later after their death.

[@Herbertti3]

Microplastics are harmless. - Plastic companies today

[@BlinkOnWheels]

RIP to the ladies

[@Cocoa_Kalypso]

"bad habit" is a little misleading. they were specifically instructed to lick the brush tips for a finer point

[@genevievemeuniere4047]

One of the better summaries of this whole thing. Great Job!

[@vanshmchandani]

I always wanted to see a video on radium girls! Thanks brew!

[@user-vi8en1sc4s]

The women: **gets ill and dies** The manager: SoUnDs lIkE SyPhIlIs nOw gEt bAcK To wOrK

[@l1585]

**glowing broken bones** manager: It'S tHe S3x DiSeAsE tRuSt mE

[@clauday6467]

hey brew I just wanna say I love ur videos, the way you narrate things and all the illustrations made by your team are incredible and high quality, you also help spread awareness to some of the obscure information

[@NinjaStevE21]

15:50 So glad you did that quick bit, Bo's amazing!

[@meleagraham3084]

the presentation of all of the information was beautiful! your editing skills are truly breath-taking

[@marybennett4573]

Wow, that is horrible. And they got away with it

[@zosmavideos4891]

This story very much reminds me of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory where, yet again, women lost their lives due to inhumane working conditions

[@eastcoastmusicmachine7989]

The NJ radium girls case was settled in 1928, but radium remained legal in the US until the 60s. That means radium stayed legal for 40 years AFTER this case was over. So tragic

[@Fairybreadsss]

“I cant see, its pitch black in here” “ oh let me just-“ *smiles*

[@koi6429]

wow im so glad you went more in depth!

[@amytaf2387]

And this is why I also try to remind my mom who loves collecting antiques that they used dangerous materials to make alot of that stuff. They didn't know better back then but we know now.

[@riss9152]

i'm so sick over this, the fact that they knew it was dangerous yet refused to give the women protective equipment and even made them *cosume* it... and then blamed their symptoms on STIs. men are unforgivable.

[@1234321ah]

Some men.

[@riss9152]

@@1234321ah nah bc you're the type that would sit idly by and let men do these things to them, which is also unforgivable.

[@1234321ah]

@@riss9152 um I wouldn’t..? I’m just saying not all men would do these things, and you’re basically saying ALL. Men and it’s really rude to men who have brains and wouldn’t let these women go through what they went through

[@1234321ah]

@@riss9152 also I feel like you’re a feminist

[@umbrasyl]

@@1234321ah i feel like you're an incel

[@lymqhocytes]

i remember so vividly watching a documentary of this when i was small. it was like one of those younger years memories that you simply cant forget. has haunted me till this day. so glad i found this video to revive that memory haha

[@malcolmdean6899]

It makes me wonder what people will look back on 2022, and say "They did what? " Second the radium paint manufacturer had to have known how toxic the paint was.

[@craighound]

it's the plastics we use in everything. microplastics are now found in nearly every environment on earth from the bottom of the ocean to the middle of the jungle to antarctic snow. they've made their way not just into human blood, but crossing the blood-brain barrier as well as in placentas. we don't even know the full ramifications but so far... doesn't look good.

[@pianolady10]

A friend of mine who is a watercolorist points her brush by twirling it between her lips (not at all like your illustration of dragging it across the teeth). Given some of the chemicals in those paints I’m amazed she’s still alive.

[@savannarae8879]

he said they used it on there teeth to brighten them

[@sprigganpanda]

I've seen SciShow cover this and it's always so fascinating to hear about the Radium Girls that I shall watch it again with Brew.

[@kathleenking47]

I wonder if radium in chocolate in germany, partially led to the crazy nazis?

[@PureLimbic]

A similar story is the toxic water in Flynt, Michigan. People drinking the water were poisonedThe local government and utility companies did the same deny/ignore/downplay thing.