#Radium dial series

Analyses of the breast cancer data uncovered several observations inconsistent with the previously suggested causal association with radium exposure. Lung cancer requires further investigation inhalation exposures of the dial workers were reviewed.

#Radium dial series

Other cancers of the digestive tract appeared to be indirectly, if at all, associated with work in radium facilities. Radioactivity and Health: A History.) The radium dial painting industry began in the United States in the. The MeisterSinger No.03 series watch features a stainless steel 43 mm case, with a fixed bezel a black (old radium) dial and a scratch resistant sapphire. Instead, the girls were told that they were ingesting a substance that was completely harmless.

However, they neglected to say something. The owners of the corporation were aware of the dangerous, life-threatening effects of radium. Liver, pancreatic, cervical, and uterine cancers were clearly unrelated to radium exposure. The relationships of radium exposure to mortality from cancers of the stomach, pancreas, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast, cervix, and corpus uteri, and from leukemia were studied in 1,285 pre-1930 dial workers. Radium Corporation was the company that hired the women to paint the dials. For the 693 cases whose body content of radium has been measured since 1955, dose-response relationships of cancer to systemic intake of radium and duration of employment were examined. Mortality was compared with that expected from rates for US white females, with and without adjustment for local area mortality rates, and with mortality in dial workers exposed from 1930 to 1949. Radium ( 226 Ra) activated dial watches (pocket and wristwatches) are still in circulation, although not to the extent they were in the 1970s when there was estimated to be over 10 million watches in the USA with luminous 226 Ra dials ( NCRP, 1977 ). The relationships of radium exposure to mortality from cancers of the stomach, pancreas, colon, rectum, liver, lung, breast, cervix, and corpus uteri, and from leukemia were studied in 1,285 pre-1930 dial workers. One study by the Public Health Service many years ago found that a person who wears a radium watch for 24 hours a day over the course of a year could conceivably be exposed to 65 to 130 millirems of radiation.īy way of comparison, the average person is exposed to about 300 millirems of background radiation in a typical year, and a single chest X-ray exposes a patient to about 5 to 10 millirems of radiation.The female radium dial workers have now experienced significant mortality from cancers other than the bone sarcomas and head carcinomas long known to be radium induced. The watches are likely to emit as much radiation today as they did when they were first manufactured, but experts say that in reality, the risk to wearers is probably low. These paints were used on the dials of clocks and watches to make them glow-in-the-dark. When radium was discovered in the early 1900s, people were fascinated by its mysterious glow and it was added to many everyday products, including paints. But many of the so-called radium watches are still around today, considered antiques and even prized as collectibles. Radium is one type of radioactive material that could be found in antiques. Radium was eventually banned after scores of dial painters died from cancer and various ghastly ailments. Radioactive materials, as they emit radiation, decay to other elements. The phosphor deterioration means you can't see a glow anymore, but radium takes thousands of years to completely decay. THE FACTS - Up until about 1970, millions of glow-in-the-dark watches sold in the United States were made with radium, a radioactive substance that was painted on watch dials to give them their characteristic luminosity. A key point to bear in mind is this: the dial is still highly radioactive. THE CLAIM - Antique watches made with radium can emit high levels of radiation.