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February lst,1930.
Dr. Harry H. Bowing,
c/o Mayo Clinic,
Rochester, linn.
Dear Dr. Bowing:
I an glad to herewith confirm in letter form the matter dis-
cussed with you personally on -onday January 27th.
From 1916 to 1925 the United States Radium Corporation or its
predecessors maintained an application plant for applying radioactive luminous
natorial to watch, clock dials, etc., during which period there wore probably
employed a total of approximately 400 girls. The radioactive luminous material
was applied to the numerals of the dials with small camel's hair brushes.
Ag you realiae, this operation is rather a delicate one and requires consider-
able skill. The brushes had to be well "pointed* and to do this a good many of
the operators used their lips, although there were other nethods provided. While
the practice of "pointing" the brushos with their lips was forbidden on account
of sanitary reasons, still the girls continued the practice with our knowledge.
Early in 1924 a dentist in Newark called to our attention the
fact that he folt there was an industrial hazard existing in our sork. We
in ediately had a study made, with reference to the materials used as well as
working conditions, by the Public Health Department of Harvard. Due to the
fact that they could not attribute a similar condition which they found exist-
ing in a number of our employees to any particular cauae, they advised us that
they would look upon the radioactive constituents of our material with suspicion,
and advised certain recomziendations which we inmediately put into effect. We
followed this up by discussing the possibilities of the radium presenting B
hasard, with both medical and scientific nen versed in the subject of radio-
activity, and they both felt that the conclusions drawn by the Public Health
School of Harvard were rather far fetched. We had other investigations made
some of which indicated that it was questionable whether there was an industrial
hazard existing in our plant. However, as time progressed and more data and
information became available regarding the conditions existing among certain
of our employees who had been engaged in this practice, our attitude changed
and we recognized that there probably was a hasard connected with this work.
The seat of the trouble could be traced back to the practice of #pointing" the
brushes with the lips, theroby serving as a noans of introducing the material
into the system.
The redioactive luminous material consisted of phosphorescent
which is primarily aine sulphide of a special orystaline nature,
containing one (1) part of cadmium sulphide to 820 parts of sine sulphide, one
(1) part of copper sulphide to 7150 parts of zinc sulphide, and one (1) part of
was
mon ganous sulphide to 23000 parts of aine sulphide. The radium or nesothorium
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"ocrText": "February lst,1930.\nDr. Harry H. Bowing,\nc/o Mayo Clinic,\nRochester, linn.\nDear Dr. Bowing:\nI an glad to herewith confirm in letter form the matter dis-\ncussed with you personally on -onday January 27th.\nFrom 1916 to 1925 the United States Radium Corporation or its\npredecessors maintained an application plant for applying radioactive luminous\nnatorial to watch, clock dials, etc., during which period there wore probably\nemployed a total of approximately 400 girls. The radioactive luminous material\nwas applied to the numerals of the dials with small camel's hair brushes.\nAg you realiae, this operation is rather a delicate one and requires consider-\nable skill. The brushes had to be well \"pointed* and to do this a good many of\nthe operators used their lips, although there were other nethods provided. While\nthe practice of \"pointing\" the brushos with their lips was forbidden on account\nof sanitary reasons, still the girls continued the practice with our knowledge.\nEarly in 1924 a dentist in Newark called to our attention the\nfact that he folt there was an industrial hazard existing in our sork. We\nin ediately had a study made, with reference to the materials used as well as\nworking conditions, by the Public Health Department of Harvard. Due to the\nfact that they could not attribute a similar condition which they found exist-\ning in a number of our employees to any particular cauae, they advised us that\nthey would look upon the radioactive constituents of our material with suspicion,\nand advised certain recomziendations which we inmediately put into effect. We\nfollowed this up by discussing the possibilities of the radium presenting B\nhasard, with both medical and scientific nen versed in the subject of radio-\nactivity, and they both felt that the conclusions drawn by the Public Health\nSchool of Harvard were rather far fetched. We had other investigations made\nsome of which indicated that it was questionable whether there was an industrial\nhazard existing in our plant. However, as time progressed and more data and\ninformation became available regarding the conditions existing among certain\nof our employees who had been engaged in this practice, our attitude changed\nand we recognized that there probably was a hasard connected with this work.\nThe seat of the trouble could be traced back to the practice of #pointing\" the\nbrushes with the lips, theroby serving as a noans of introducing the material\ninto the system.\nThe redioactive luminous material consisted of phosphorescent\nwhich is primarily aine sulphide of a special orystaline nature,\ncontaining one (1) part of cadmium sulphide to 820 parts of sine sulphide, one\n(1) part of copper sulphide to 7150 parts of zinc sulphide, and one (1) part of\nwas\nmon ganous sulphide to 23000 parts of aine sulphide. The radium or nesothorium"
}