the true story about the watch factories of death
Well, pretty soon, everyone was jumping on the radium gravy train. Product makers from beauty and cosmetics to toy and food manufacturers were sprinkling in a dash of that miracle substance that seemed to have so many health benefits.
There was radium shoe polish...
...radium razors...
...radium playing cards...
...radium cigarettes...
...radium hand cream...
and...uhhh...radium butter?
Now, exposure to small amounts of radioactivity is generally okay. UV rays from the sun or microwaves from your, uh... microwave aren't strong enough to damage your cells or to have a lasting effect as long as exposure is minimal. But if you were to, oh I don't know, drink a bottle of radioactive water (something people actually did, by the way) or perhaps lick a paintbrush dipped in radium, you'd be in for a seriously hard time.
And that seriously hard time is, unfortunately, where we find our radium girls.