III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 285 

Honoring the lives and legacies of the ‘‘Radium Girls’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24, 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MURPHY, 

Mr. DURBIN, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AUGUST 9, 2021 

Committee discharged; considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended 

preamble 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the lives and legacies of the ‘‘Radium Girls’’. 

Whereas Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium in 1898, 

sparking a craze for radium-infused consumer goods in 

the early 20th century; 

Whereas many entrepreneurs touted radium’s supposedly limitless curative properties, even as some scientists began 

to report serious health hazards associated with the element; 

Whereas the ‘‘Radium Girls’’ were teenaged girls and young 

women who, starting in 1917, worked in United States 

factories painting watch dials and airplane instruments 

using glow-in-the-dark, radium-infused paint; 


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Whereas the early Radium Girls painted watches and instruments that United States troops relied on during World 

War I; 

Whereas the majority of the Radium Girls worked for corporations located in Orange, New Jersey, Ottawa, Illinois, and Waterbury, Connecticut; 

Whereas the Radium Girls primarily came from working-class 

backgrounds and some were first- and second-generation 

Americans; 

Whereas, in several instances, the radium corporations’ leadership knew that the element could be harmful to human 

health, but they did not inform the Radium Girls of the 

risks or implement basic safety standards; 

Whereas, in many cases, the radium corporations’ management encouraged the Radium Girls to keep their paintbrush tips moist and as fine as possible by putting the 

paint-covered brushes between their lips, a technique 

known as ‘‘lip-pointing’’; 

Whereas, due to lip-pointing, many of the early Radium Girls 

ingested extremely harmful quantities of radium; 

Whereas the Radium Girls breathed in radium-infused dust 

and touched radium-infused paint, and they often glowed 

by the end of the workday due to the radioactive paint 

on their clothes and skin; 

Whereas many of the Radium Girls began to experience mysterious health problems, including necrosis (rotting) of 

the jaw, cancer, anemia, bone fractures, and infertility; 

Whereas many of the Radium Girls were eventually plagued 

by debilitating physical pain and severe disabilities; 


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Whereas an unknown number of the approximately 4,000 Radium Girls died prematurely or experienced the devastating health effects of radium poisoning; 

Whereas some physicians and dentists initially dismissed the 

Radium Girls’ hypothesis that their illnesses were linked 

to their occupations; 

Whereas, in some cases, the radium corporations conspired 

with members of the medical community to conceal the 

origins of the Radium Girls’ illnesses and smear their 

reputations; 

Whereas a number of the Radium Girls, in different States, 

fought to secure justice for themselves, their families, and 

their colleagues by suing the radium corporations; 

Whereas the Radium Girls’ difficult and prolonged legal battles and often horrific medical conditions drew national 

attention; 

Whereas some of the Radium Girls who challenged the radium corporations were shunned by their communities for 

harming the reputation of a prominent local employer; 

Whereas many of the surviving Radium Girls volunteered to 

participate in scientific studies on the effects of radium 

on the human body; 

Whereas investigations of the Radium Girls’ illnesses led to 

the creation of the new scientific field of human 

radiobiology; 

Whereas the Federal Government relied on data from the Radium Girls’ cases to develop safety standards for radium 

and other radioactive materials for factory workers, medical personnel, and scientists, including the workers and 

scientists of the Manhattan Project; 


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Whereas some of the Radium Girls and their families received 

either no compensation or only meager compensation related to their harmful exposure to radium and their contributions to science; 

Whereas the Radium Girls’ highly publicized case was among 

the first in which the courts held an employer responsible 

for the safety and health of its workers; 

Whereas the Radium Girls’ struggle was a turning point in 

the movement to promote workers’ safety and occupational health reforms; and 

Whereas many workers in the United States today are still 

fighting for a safe and equitable workplace: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) honors the Radium Girls and their deter3 mination to seek justice in the face of overwhelming 

4 obstacles; 

5 (2) recognizes the invaluable contributions of 

6 the Radium Girls to developing modern workplace 

7 safety standards; and 

8 (3) reaffirms the importance of protecting the 

9 health and safety of all workers in the United 

10 States. 

Æ 


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