[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 110 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 285--HONORING THE LIVES AND LEGACIES OF THE ``RADIUM 
                                GIRLS''

  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:

                              S. Res. 285

       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;
       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;
       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;
       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 for justice was a 
     turning point in the movement to protect workers' safety and 
     ultimately spurred Congress to enact critical 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
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors the Radium Girls and their determination to seek 
     justice in the face of overwhelming obstacles;
       (2) recognizes the invaluable contributions of the Radium 
     Girls to developing modern workplace safety laws and 
     standards; and
       (3) reaffirms the commitment of the Federal Government to 
     protecting the health and safety of all workers in the United 
     States.

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