Radium Girls

Oxidative Stress and Space Biology An Organ-Based Approach

“…Within a period of three days to a month, relatively low doses of radiation (≤2 Gy) lead to progressive loss of cancellous bone, as shown by our group and others [34,35,[141][142][143][144], which is preceeded by a rapid increase in expression levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL1 and TNFα and pro-osteoclastogenic signals RANKL and MCP1 as well as the oxidative defense gene, NRF2 [34,35]. On the basis of these findings, we hypothesized that diets or drugs capable of preventing early increases in these molecular signals can mitigate cancellous bone loss caused by both low LET and high LET radiation.…”

“…However, caffeine treatment reduced HO-1 levels after 48 h in control litters kept in room air (71% ± 15.6%; p < 0.05). 141 …”

Epidemiology of Eyelid Malignancies in Indian Asians: The Importance of Being Earnest

“…To see confounding used deliberately to confuse in epidemiology, one only has to look at the Radium Girls in the 1920s: they were female factory workers who suffered from radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint [5]. Basic epidemiological studies quickly established that radiation poisoning was the cause of the effects of this poisoning, namely, anemia, bone fractures, and necrosis of the jaw.…”

Narcissus’ reflection: toxic ingredients in cosmetics through the ages

“…This rapid development predated the understanding of the effects of radium leading to its clear inappropriate application to many consumer products. The most infamous example of radium poisoning centered on the United States Radium Corporation, which provided watch faces and instrument dials to the military . Ignorant of the risks of radiation exposure, the young women who painted the dials would paint their nails, face, and teeth with the glowing paint.…”

“…Radium necrosis, cancer, and death followed up for many of the young “radium girls” around 10 years later (Fig. ) . By the 1930s, a slew of medical publications and government warnings had made clear that radium was to be contained and never ingested.…”