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    "label": "Letters Received to Editor, June 23, 1925",
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    "title": "Letters Received to Editor, June 23, 1925",
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        "Safety Light Collection",
        "Records Related to Radium Dial Painters"
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    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
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    "ocrText": "RECEIVED JUN 24 1925\nJune 23, 1925\nRADIUM DEATHS\nUNITED STATES\nTo the Editor:\nMANIUM GORP.\nIn the face of the controversy that still rages over the so-called\n\"Radium Deaths\" I wish to submit further facts to offset several\nuntrue statements that have been made by those who either don't\nknow or ought to know better.\nThe latest report is that it is not radium that has caused the\ndeaths, but the more active element known as mesothorium. This\ntheory was advanced by Drs. Viol and Cameron of Pittsburgh and has\nreceived wide publicity. I feel, therefore, the same publicity\nshould be given to the honest, simple facts.\nI have great respect for Drs. Cameron and Viol. They are both\nfamiliar with radioactive substances and hence they both know quite\nwell that the action of Mesothorium is identical with that of radium.\nBoth emit the same type of alpha, beta and gamma radiation and all\nthese rays are alike whether obtained from radium or mesothorium\nwith very minor differences in their degrees of penetration,\nvelocity, etc.\nThat mesothorium is more active than radium is a fact. To be real\naccurate it is 250 times more active on a basis of weight, but this\nsuperiority in activity does not make it any more dangerous than\nradium because where a stated amount of radium is used in the paint\non a watch dial 1/250th of this amount of mesothorium is used. In\nthis wan an approximate equality in radiation is obtained, so that\nwhether one has mesothorium or radium in the luminous paint one ob-\ntains approximately the same amount of radiation. The reason for\nusing mesothorium in place of radium has been due to the fact that\nit has been slightly less expensive.\nDrs. Cameron and Viol state that no deaths have resulted where pure\nradium has been used in the luminous paint but that it is different\nwhere mesothorium is used. In view of the fact that the company\nthat employes these eminent scientists has used mesothorium for\nyears in their luminous material it is strange that there have been\nno deaths in their plant.\n- 2 -\nTheir remarks regarding the death of Dr. Edwin H. Leman would lead\none to infer that he died from the effects of the rays of mesothor-\nium and not from radium. They stated he was ig good health while\nhe worked on radium alone but when he went to the plant where meso-\nthorium was used he acquired the illness that resulted in his death.\nThere might be some basis for this statement were there any differ-\nence in the gamma rays from these products, but as the gamma rays\nfrom radium are nearly as penetrating as those from mesothorium, are\nidentically alike and arise in no greater amount from an equal amount\nof these two elements, it is impossible to understand why these men\nhave made such absolutely unscientific statements. It takes the\nmost delicate electroscopes to detect the difference in these rays,\nso that any claims made as to greater degree of injury from one ele-\nment than from the other have not the slightest basis of fact.\nThese men cannot produce the slightest scintilla of evidence that\nradium is injurious when taken internally, neither can they produce\na single bit of evidence that mesothorium is injurious. In fact,\nthe best experts in Europe prefer the internal administration of\nmesothorium to radium alone as they claim they effect cures more\npromptly with mesothorium. Thus if mesothorium were used in the\nluminous paint on the watch dials the health of the workers should\nhave improved even more so than were radium in the paint.\nI am writing this letter in the interests of truth and my statements\nregarding the absolute identy between the rays of radium and meso-\nthorium can be verified by reference to any of the standard text\nbooks on radioactive substances such as Rutherford, Fajans, Soddy,\nFinzi, Simpson, etc.\nThis is not a case where experts disagree. It is a case where ex-\nperts all have the same knowledge, but some experts seem to have\na hidden motive for discrediting mesothorium to the glory of its\nradioactive twin -- radium. If mesothorium is injurious, so is\nradium; if radium is harmless, so is mesothorium and this latter\nstatement is the true one when we speak of the internal administra-\ntion of these elements, such as has been the custom in the medical\nprofession for many years.\nVery cordially yours,\nBAILEY RADIUM LABORATORIES,\n336 Main Street,\nEast Orange, N. J.\nLL/B"
}