![]() Mollie's sister, Quinta, died of a leg sarcoma in 1929, as did another sister, Albina, in 1946. However, it was too late to save her sisters, who had counted themselves lucky to obtain high-paying jobs at US Radium Corporation alongside each other. Greater caution was used in handling radioactive materials, protecting the scientists who developed nuclear weapons during World War II.įive years after her death, Mollie Maggia's body was exhumed, glowing with radiation, and her name was cleared. Significant changes in workers' compensation laws were made and OSHA was created. These women's deaths began a crusade to end worker exploitation and hold employers responsible for putting employees' lives at risk. Dozens suffered before radium poisoning was recognized as their cause of death. ![]() Others suffered from cancerous tumors or disintegration of the bones in their limbs and spines. Women continued to die of complications of jaw necrosis. The radium consumed by the dial painters was absorbed by their bodies like calcium, where it attacked their bones and infected them with an incurable radioactivity. When applying paint to the tiny watch faces, the girls would create a fine point on their brushes by placing it between their lips. ![]() Their dresses would glow in the evening from the dust that settled on them while at work. The girls would paint their nails and use it like makeup. Since radium was believed to have health benefits, little control was exercised over the use of radium paint. At US Radium Corporation in New Jersey, young women worked as dial painters, tracing the digits on watches and clocks with radium infused paint so that they would glow in the dark. Products claimed to cure cancer, clear skin, and improve digestion. She had a number of teeth removed to stop the pain in her jaw and to stop the infection that was spreading in her mouth, but to no avail. The element, recently discovered by the Curies, was considered magical. Amelia 'Mollie' Maggia was one of the first documented cases of radium poisoning, even though her birth certificate claims that she died from syphilis. She was twenty-one years old and suffered from jaw necrosis.Įach of these girls lived in Orange, New Jersey, and worked at US Radium Corporation.ĭuring the 1920s, hundreds of products containing radium were sold. She was twenty-two and had suffered from a raging infection in her mouth, jaw, and throat. Then, on June 3, 1923, Helen Quinlan died in her home. Mollie's family not only had to cope with grief, but they were burdened with the blackening of Mollie's name. Unable to determine what had plagued her and unwilling to investigate the idea that it might have had something to do with her work as a dial painter, the coroner listed Mollie Maggia's cause of death as syphilis. She deteriorated quickly and died a horrible death. For months, she had been visiting doctors and dentists, searching for a solution, or at least a diagnosis. The tissue of her mouth, jaw, and throat had disintegrated so thoroughly that she bled out while her horrified family helplessly looked on. On September 12, 1922, a twenty-four year old woman died in her home.
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