But didn’t they actually know that it was poisoning the shit out of the radium girls? iirc that whole not knowing thing was a classic corporate case of totally not knowing (nudge nudge, wink wink)
Wasn’t even a passing off, syphilis was one of those diseases that was seen as a sign of poor character (leper logic) so it was also an attempt to outright slander their own employees.
Ask Marie Curie.
https://www.iflscience.com/marie-curies-body-was-so-radioactive-she-was-buried-in-a-lead-lined-coffin-69080
Or the Radium Girls
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
But didn’t they actually know that it was poisoning the shit out of the radium girls? iirc that whole not knowing thing was a classic corporate case of totally not knowing (nudge nudge, wink wink)
100% correct. They knew, and when the injuries were a lot more severe than they anticipated, they tried to pass it off as syphilis.
Wasn’t even a passing off, syphilis was one of those diseases that was seen as a sign of poor character (leper logic) so it was also an attempt to outright slander their own employees.
Further:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Byers
Ah yes the industrialist who died and was important enough for radiation to be taken seriously
An excellent podcast about the story of the radium girls if you’re interested:
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford: How the Radium Girls Fought Back
Episode webpage: https://omny.fm/shows/cautionary-tales-with-tim-harford/how-the-radium-girls-fought-back
Media file: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/18db03/tracking.swap.fm/track/SxlTEPDY7xDg35RXkASs/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c0ae8c6e-22f0-4e9b-ac1c-ae390037ac53/94ddcc41-1c34-4ab5-8586-b0d101457f5c/audio.mp3?in_playlist=7f5a4714-6b10-4ccf-a424-ae390037ac70