In the 1920s, hundreds of young American women were hired to paint watch dials with radium paint that made them glow in the dark. Their employers told them it was completely safe, even encouraged them to lick their brushes to create fine points, while company executives used lead shields and protective equipment when handling the same material. The women, thinking it was harmless fun, painted their nails and teeth with the glowing paint for parties.

Within years, their teeth fell out, their jaws literally dissolved, and their bones broke from simple movements as the radium they’d ingested destroyed them from the inside. When they tried to seek help, the companies claimed they had syphilis to destroy their reputations. Five dying women, led by Grace Fryer, finally sued in 1928, arriving in court on stretchers, and won a settlement that established workplace safety rights we still rely on today. Many of the victims are still radioactive in their graves nearly a century later.

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