The Radium Girls: A Tragic Legacy

In 1917, young women were paid to swallow a deadly lie. At the United States

Radium Corporation, hundreds of girls painted clock faces with radium paint. It glows in the

dark. But here's the horror: their bosses told them the paint was safe.

They instructed the girls to LICK their brushes for a fine point. "Lip,

dip, paint" - thousands of times per day. The girls thought it was fun.

They glowed in the dark after shifts. They painted their nails with it. Their teeth shined

when they smiled. But within years, their jaws literally started falling out of their faces.

Their teeth fell out. Their bones crumbled. They got cancer. Five women fought