The Miraculous Substance Of Radium Girls

In the early 1900’s, the discovery of a luminescent material, radium, arrived on the scene to the delight of a fascinated and eager public. At first, it seemed to be a miracle remedy, not just harmless but even beneficial. However, when a multitude of watch dial painters were exposed to this substance on an extremely consistent basis, the negative effects began bubbling to the surface. These “Radium Girls” were unknowingly consuming a potentially lethal substance and would be the first victims of radium poisoning and radioactivity. Not many people knew about the dangers of radioactive substances or radium poisoning and many others had made judgements that were clouded by the perfection of the glowing sensation. In spite of this, the horrific afflictions that the Radium Girls endured helped shift the public perspective of radium from “wonder drug” to “pitiless poison” and started the country on a path to regulating the handling of radioactive

From surgery to radium exposure to such extremes as radiation therapy, as doctors’ knowledge of the varying types of cancer, and the expansion of medical research regarding cancer has changed, so has the preferred method of treatment. Doctors and researchers dedicated to studying cancer have led to a greater understanding of cancer development; consequently the development of treatments and cures that are more effective, less harmful, have fewer side effects, and in some cases serve to prevent the spread of cancer.

The city of Waukesha was “pleased to report” that their water tested negative for everything but Radium and Gross Alpha. Radium is element number 88 on the periodic table and from the name, you can guess that this element is highly radioactive and can be very harmful to the human body. For starters, if radium is ingested and absorbed into the cells and tissues, it can and will start to deteriorate the surrounding tissues. Specifically, radium may cause problems in the immune system including anemia. Radium can cause cataracts and fractured teeth (from breaking down tissue, including bone tissue). High levels of radium have also been known to cause an increased risk in bone, liver, and breast cancers. Gross Alpha is a type of radiation that is released when any naturally occurring radioactive element changes to produce a “decay product”, such as radium. These decay products are formed after billions of years. Alpha radiation is everywhere, in our soil, air, and in our water. This is because or earth’s bedrock consists of varying amounts of radioactive elements. The alpha radiation also varies in our water, due to the water in deep aquifers or wells touching the bedrock; the water may contain the same or less than the same amount of elemental decay. Alpha radiation in drinking / ground water can be in the form of dissolved minerals, or as a gas

Doctors had been using radiation to destroy cancerous cells since the unfolding of X-rays and radium in the 1890s, but both techniques had their own issues. X-ray machines were complicated to make use of, and radium implanted near tumors. In addition, X-rays weren’t strong enough to be entirely effective, and as for both of them, they were quite expensive.

Many of the deaths were from the initial blast or burns, but (as mentioned) many people died from radiation sickness. They suffered nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and weakness. People also had internal bleeding and bled from their mouths, throats and other places in their bodies.

There are many ways for cancer to get in the body, like exposure to uranium and oxidative stress. [8]. When the mechanisms of the body loose the protein Glutathione it leads to making oxygen free radical neutral. Two of the most important proteins in the body are glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Glutathione (GSH) works as an antioxidant [9]. Also, glutathione (GSH) has an important job that removes toxic metals out of the body because glutathione (GSH) has a sulphydryl group. This group strongly binds with toxic metals, effectively [3]. When uranium enters the body, it will reduce glutathione (GSH). When there is a reduction of glutathione (GSH), it leads to an increase of the

The infamous ‘Radium Girls’ disaster stemmed from one of the most influential scientific discoveries of the late 19th century; the element of Radium. French chemists Marie and Pierre Curie first reported the discovery of Radium in 1898 (Sutera, 2013, p. 1) when they found it embedded within small amounts of Uranium Ore (Carter, 1 Paragraph 5). Marie and Pierre were surprised to note that this amazing new element glowed in the dark (Carter, 2007, p. 1). Little did the French scientists know that this interesting new element would have a sublethal effect on hundreds of young factory workers in the years to come.

Ionizing radiation exposure is a well known risk factor that is not only unique to ALL but to many other cancers. Fetus exposure to radiation in the early stages of development may increase risk of ALL in the exposed child however the magnitude of the risk is unknown. Ionizing radiation can affect a child at all stages of development from preconception, pregnancy and postnataly. Radiation can come in many forms for example radiation on a fetus can occur via x-ray or CT scan, therefore most physicinas avoid having pregnant women take these diagnostic test under most circumstances (American Cancer Society). There have been studies that suggest paternal ionizing radiaton exposure may also play a role in the risk of ALL in offspring. One such study was conducted in the United Kingdom and examined children living in Sellafield located near a powerplant and fathers working at the

The use of radioactive materials seems dangerous at first, especially when you are injecting them into the human body. But the type of radioactive materials that are used in this kind of medicine are almost harmless. The radioactive material used in this type of medicine are called radiotracers, they are never overdosed to prevent sickness and health problems. Radiotracers are harmless, when they get into your body by either being injected, inhaled, or swallowed they do their job and when it's complete they get eliminated by urine, stool, or breath. Almost all protists that have used this type of medicine walk away without any problems, usually the worst that will ever happen is very small and tolerable amounts of pain in the area worked on or a bit of

For the plutonium, polonium and uranium experiments the researchers wanted to protect the people working on nuclear weapons. They used sick patients to experiment on, and they collected data from those experiments to develop a safer and healthier environment for the workers. The total-body irradiation (TBI) experiments the government was gathering information to use and develop nuclear weapons. The radioisotope experiments involved plutonium injections, and the biomedical research that was conducted was to further the medicine advancements (“OSTI,” 1995).

Acute radiation syndrome, or ARS, occurs in the whole human body when there are large doses of ionizing radiation strike for a short period. When an ionizing radiation occurs, it produces biologic damage inside the human body because the interaction within the cells causes molecular changes and inability to functions. It is a somatic effect that shows early symptoms of nausea, fatigue, and fever. Then months or years after radiation exposure, a person could potentially receive lung diseases, cataract, or cancer. These effects are examples of multiple epidemiologic cases involving human population that received high doses of ionizing radiation. This paper addresses one of the epidemiologic events that affected the Navajo miners handling a high

A total body exposure of one hundred roentgens of radiation will cause radiation sickness. Although certain medical devices will give you exposure to radiation, the grays of radiation are miniscule and will not cause radiation sickness. There are a few sources that can lead to a high enough exposure of roentgens of radiation. One of these sources involves accidents or attacks involving nuclear facilities. The other has to do with accidents or being the target of radioactive or nuclear weapons and devices, this includes the use of a conventional explosive device that disperses radioactive material, known as a dirty bomb.

This report was requested as two separate radiation incidents occurred on the same day. The first incident involved a patient receiving a higher dose than intended, causing severe side effects. The second incident involved two patients with similar names, one of which received the other patient’s

It is not until recently that people have become dependent on this element, and not necessarily for the good of it, and the world. There is an obsession with uranium because of its unique properties. Uranium is extremely powerful because of its radioactive properties and unstable nuclei, especially that of Uranium-235. It is able to break down and release high frequency radiation through alpha and beta decay. It is because of these characteristics that Uranium has such a craze on the population of the world (Cox, 1995; Scerri, 2007). The properties of uranium allow people to create powerful plants to produce electricity, and weapons strong enough to destroy the world.

Radioactivity has been around since the 1800s. It is very popular in the medical field. It is used my many professionals to help diagnose and treat people every single day. Although it does have some advantages and disadvantages, people still use it to this day.