Hide Article Text (OCR)
I DEAR DR. GOTT:| What are “radium girls?”liiij DEAR READER:I Radium girls are part of the long-standing saga of| occupational disease. During World War I, young women j were hired to paint the luminous numbers on wristwatch-! es designed for American soldiers. Then, in the 1920s,| glow-in-the-dark wristwatch dials became a consumer ! fad. These women were taught to sharpen the tips of their I paintbrushes between their lips. In so doing, they ■ absorbed substantial quantities of radium. Of course, at | this time in history, no one appreciated the disastrous consequences of radiation exposure. In fact, some radium girls even went so far as to paint their clothing, their fingernails and their teeth — for “a smile that glowed in the dark.” Radium was considered to emit healing power.; Predictably, tragedy followed. The watch-dial painters | developed hideous mouth and jaw cancers, anemia, bone I fractures and a host of other symptoms directly attributed ! to their occupation. Only a few scientists and doctors ; were perceptive enough to sound a warning — and it was i largely ignored, unfortunately, until the Hiroshima bomb-iing, after which the public came to appreciate radiation danger.It seems beyond belief, given today’s knowledge, that the hazards of radium poisoning took so long to be recognized. Although many radium girls filed lawsuits, the watch-dial companies rejected the claims, and government regulators claimed that the evidence was insufficient to warrant further investigation. This whole experience was a travesty, a damning indictment of the politics of industrial disease.For those interested readers, the whole issue has been reviewed and analyzed in a new book, “Radium Girls: Women and Industrial Health Reforms, 1910-1935,” by Claudia Clark, University of North Carolina Press, 1997.DEAR DR. GOTT:Do you believe in body wisdom? I have developed, a craving for carrots and eat a pound a day. What am I missing that the carrots provide?DEAR READER:Our bodies often tell us, though cravings, that we are deficient in certain nutrients. I believe in body wisdom — to a degree. But a pound of carrots a day will probably cause you to develop carotenemia, the presence of too much carotene in the blood and tissues. This will give a yellow or orange cast to the skin, leading to toxicity: abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and other symptoms. I suggest that you have a medical examination and let the doctor determine which, if any, vitamins and minerals you may be lacking.
Newspaper Details
Farmington Daily Times
Farmington, New Mexico, US
Sat, Dec 26, 1998
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Canton S.
OK, USA 28 Jan 2022
Other Publications Near Farmington, New Mexico
Farmington Daily Times
Farmington Republican
Farmington San Juan Times
Farmington Times
Farmington Times Hustler
