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Women painting radium watches12/2/2023 In addition, radium may also cause lung cancer when it decays to radon gas (a powerful carcinogen). After a few years, many of them developed bone cancer. In the case of Radium Girls, they have swallowed little amounts of radioactive paint as they licked their paintbrushes. Once ingested or even only inhaled, the emitted radiation may interact with the human cells and then damage them. Radium emits alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, which is why it is classified as highly radioactive. Unfortunately, it took years and decades before people realized that it has harmful, fatal even, effects on the body. Yet, because of its glow that many found fascinating at that time, radium was also used in many everyday objects such as dinnerware, paints, and even in drinking water. Radium is a radioactive element first discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898. Radio-Luminescent paint is composed of zinc sulfide and radium salts. Image Credit: Arma95 via Creative Commons
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