TRANSCRIPT Sawbones: Radium Girls

Back in 1917 radium was all the rage. The fact that it glowed made people believe it was healthy and important, so they included it in things like toothpaste, cosmetics, even water. The Radium Girls, factory workers who used radium-laced paints to detail watch faces, were among the first to indicate that it may not be as safe as we imagined. Charlie McElroy is here to tell us about their fight for workplace safety.

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About the show

Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin welcome you to Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. Every Friday, they dig through the annals of medical history to uncover all the odd, weird, wrong, dumb and just gross ways we’ve tried to fix people over the years. Educational? You bet! Fun? We hope!

Send topic suggestions to sawbones@maximumfun.org and follow @Sawbones on Twitter.

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