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One part of the saga of “why didn't anyone do anything?” is that this was a state's rights problem originally: > In New Jersey, reformers won their fight for

One part of the saga of “why didn't anyone do anything?” is that this was a state's rights problem originally: > In New Jersey, reformers won their fight for a law allowing compensation for “radium necrosis.” State labor and health agencies were able to halt lip pointing, but their power over industry was sometimes limited. For example, the New Jersey Labor Department issued to U.S. Radium Corporation an order to tighten safety for its dial painters — “comply or close.” It closed and moved elsewhere. Federal agencies mostly deferred to state authority over radium. [1] If you have never seen the ads, they are a head trip too. People telling you how drinking radioactive water will give you “natural energy” and so forth. [2] The craziest part is that it didn't stop due to lawsuits or regulations, it stopped because nuclear energy plants proliferated and gave us many other isotopes to work with, most of them without the 1000+ year half life of radium. The feds didn't get really involved until fricking 9/11, if you can believe it. [3] 1. https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/history-101/radium-parti-opening-pandoras-box.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/history-10... 2. https://flashbak.com/vintage-produce-of-the-day-cure-all-radium-butter-baths-and-drinking-water-16263/ https://flashbak.com/vintage-produce-of-the-day-cure-all-rad... 3. https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/history-101/radium-part2-trying-to-close-pandoras-box.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/history-10...

Loughla 2y ago
I mean, it absolutely would give you natural energy. It's just the format that leaves a bit to be desired.
hulitu 2y ago
> If you have never seen the ads, they are a head trip too. People telling you how drinking radioactive water will give you “natural energy” To be honest those ads were true. Radioactive water _will_ give you “natural energy”, it will be bad for your body though.
Moomoomoo309 2y ago
I think the "1000+" is a little misleading, so to clarify: longer half-life means less dangerous, something like unrefined uranium has little radiation risk unless you have very long-term exposure to it (but it's very toxic because it's a heavy metal, so it will still kill you), its half life is billions of years, something on the order of magnitude of 1000 years, like Radium, is way, way worse.

Loughla 2y ago

I mean, it absolutely would give you natural energy. It's just the format that leaves a bit to be desired.

hulitu 2y ago

> If you have never seen the ads, they are a head trip too. People telling you how drinking radioactive water will give you “natural energy” To be honest those ads were true. Radioactive water _will_ give you “natural energy”, it will be bad for your body though.

Moomoomoo309 2y ago

I think the "1000+" is a little misleading, so to clarify: longer half-life means less dangerous, something like unrefined uranium has little radiation risk unless you have very long-term exposure to it (but it's very toxic because it's a heavy metal, so it will still kill you), its half life is billions of years, something on the order of magnitude of 1000 years, like Radium, is way, way worse.