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February 3rd,1930.
Dr. Ernest C. Pohle,
c/o Wisconsin General Hospital,
Madison, nis.
Dear Dr. Pohle:
I an glad to herewiti confirm in letter form the matter
discussed with you personally on Wednesday,Jannary29th
From 1916 to 1925, the United States Radium Corporation or
its predecessors maintained an application plant for applying radioactive
luminous material to watch, clock dials, etc., during which period there
were probably employed a total of approxinately 400 girls. The radioactive
luminous material was applied to the numorals of the dials with small canel's
hair brushes. As you realize, this operation is rather a delicate one and
requires considerable skill. The brushes had to be well #pointed" and to do
this/good many of the operators used their lips, although there were other
nethods provided. While the practice of "pointing" the brushes with their
lips was forbidden on account of sanitary reasons, still the girls continued
the practico with our knowledge.
Early in 1924, a dentist in Newark called to our attention the
fact that he felt there was an industrial hasard existing in our work. Tle
innediately had a study made, with reference to the notorials 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 cause, they advised us
that they would look upon the radioactive constituents of our material with
suspicion, and advised certain recommendations which tre immediatoly put into
effect. lie followed this up by discussing the possibilities of the radium
presenting a hazard, with both sedical and scientific nen versed in the sub-
ject of radioactivity, and they both felt that the conclusions draen 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 at our plant. However, as time
progressed and more data and information became available regarding the con-
ditions 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 sork. The seat of the trouble could be traced
back
to
the practice of "pointing the brushos with the lips, thereby serv-
ing as a means of introducing the material into the system.
The radioactive luminous material consisted of phosphorescent
sinc sulphide, which ia primarily zinc sulphide of a special crystaline nature,
containing one (1) part of cadmium sulphide to 820 parts of zinc sulphide,
one (1) part of copper sulphide to 7150 parts of sine sulphide, and one (1)
part of manganous sulphide to 23000 parts of sine sulphide. The radium or
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"ocrText": "February 3rd,1930.\nDr. Ernest C. Pohle,\nc/o Wisconsin General Hospital,\nMadison, nis.\nDear Dr. Pohle:\nI an glad to herewiti confirm in letter form the matter\ndiscussed with you personally on Wednesday,Jannary29th\nFrom 1916 to 1925, the United States Radium Corporation or\nits predecessors maintained an application plant for applying radioactive\nluminous material to watch, clock dials, etc., during which period there\nwere probably employed a total of approxinately 400 girls. The radioactive\nluminous material was applied to the numorals of the dials with small canel's\nhair brushes. As you realize, this operation is rather a delicate one and\nrequires considerable skill. The brushes had to be well #pointed\" and to do\nthis/good many of the operators used their lips, although there were other\nnethods provided. While the practice of \"pointing\" the brushes with their\nlips was forbidden on account of sanitary reasons, still the girls continued\nthe practico with our knowledge.\nEarly in 1924, a dentist in Newark called to our attention the\nfact that he felt there was an industrial hasard existing in our work. Tle\ninnediately had a study made, with reference to the notorials 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 cause, they advised us\nthat they would look upon the radioactive constituents of our material with\nsuspicion, and advised certain recommendations which tre immediatoly put into\neffect. lie followed this up by discussing the possibilities of the radium\npresenting a hazard, with both sedical and scientific nen versed in the sub-\nject of radioactivity, and they both felt that the conclusions draen by the\npublic Health School of Harvard were rather far fetched.\nWe had other\ninvestigations made, some of which indicated that it was questionable whether\nthere was an industrial hazard existing at our plant. However, as time\nprogressed and more data and information became available regarding the con-\nditions existing among certain of our employees who had been engaged in this\npractice, our attitude changed and we recognized that there probably was a\nhasard connected with this sork. The seat of the trouble could be traced\nback\nto\nthe practice of \"pointing the brushos with the lips, thereby serv-\ning as a means of introducing the material into the system.\nThe radioactive luminous material consisted of phosphorescent\nsinc sulphide, which ia primarily zinc sulphide of a special crystaline nature,\ncontaining one (1) part of cadmium sulphide to 820 parts of zinc sulphide,\none (1) part of copper sulphide to 7150 parts of sine sulphide, and one (1)\npart of manganous sulphide to 23000 parts of sine sulphide. The radium or"
}