“Radium City” is a documentary about a once prestigious clock making factory in Ottawa, Illinois. This documentary tells the real life story about the women who fell victim to the over exposure of radium by painting the numbers on clock faces. In the 1920’s, Radium Dial advertised a good paying job for painting luminous numbers on the faces of clocks to teenage girls that were straight out of high school that paid a better wage than what their parents were making every week. To these girls this was a great job to have that provided a challenge, a high pay, prosperity, and a chance to become a master at a skill. During this time people were not educated on what the long term exposure to radium would cause. People thought of radium as a
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Argonne ran numerous tests on the girls who once worked at the old Radium Dial Plant. Argonne told them that they could help them with their ailments, but the reality is that the girls were just test dummies to try and figure out how radium can affect …show more content…
Back in the early part of the turn of the century, we as a nation were still learning about the dangers of the unknown so there were no warning signs or safety standards in place for many things. People just simply thought that there were invincible. However, there are several factors that could have been done differently to limit the exposure of radium to the young women. For instance, Radium Dial and Luminous Processes, being the manufacturer of the clocks, could have warned its employees of the danger when being in close contact with radium, or could have used a different luminous product. Since both companies were opened by Joseph Kelly in the 1920’s, Kelly should have known what the consequences of what the overexposure of radium could do to a person. Joseph Kelly was only out for himself and his money, not the girls who died and suffered to paint the numbers on clock faces so that he could make his money. Secondly, the girls could have asked questions about the dangers of radium and how putting the material in their mouths would affect them. Since the girls were dutiful, grateful, and came from poor households they listened to their bosses when they were told to dip the brushes in the radium paint and lick the tip with their tongue. They only knew that if they
Argonne ran numerous tests on the girls who once worked at the old Radium Dial Plant. Argonne told them that they could help them with their ailments, but the reality is that the girls were just test dummies to try and figure out how radium can affect …show more content…
Back in the early part of the turn of the century, we as a nation were still learning about the dangers of the unknown so there were no warning signs or safety standards in place for many things. People just simply thought that there were invincible. However, there are several factors that could have been done differently to limit the exposure of radium to the young women. For instance, Radium Dial and Luminous Processes, being the manufacturer of the clocks, could have warned its employees of the danger when being in close contact with radium, or could have used a different luminous product. Since both companies were opened by Joseph Kelly in the 1920’s, Kelly should have known what the consequences of what the overexposure of radium could do to a person. Joseph Kelly was only out for himself and his money, not the girls who died and suffered to paint the numbers on clock faces so that he could make his money. Secondly, the girls could have asked questions about the dangers of radium and how putting the material in their mouths would affect them. Since the girls were dutiful, grateful, and came from poor households they listened to their bosses when they were told to dip the brushes in the radium paint and lick the tip with their tongue. They only knew that if they