Radium dial painters

Brues AM. 1979. The long term follow up radium dial painters and thorium workers. Med Bases Radiat Accident Prep 441-450. 

There is no information on the lethal effects of radium due to acute oral exposure. Many deaths, especially from bone cancer, have occurred in humans following long-term oral exposure to radium-226 and radium-228. As described by Rowland et al. (1978), female radium dial painters in the 1920s who "tipped" their paint brushes with their lips or tongues ingested radium in the process. The dial paint usually contained long-lived radium-226 and shorter-lived radium-228. A toxicity ratio has been developed for these isotopes it has been estimated that radium-228 is about 2.5 times as effective,... 

Some of the radium dial painters ingested amounts of radium sufficient to cause death within a few years of their employment. Martland (1931) described the cases of 18 dial painters who died of cancer at ages 20 to 54 years old. Causes of death were listed as anemia, necrosis of the jaw, and osteogenic sarcoma. The typical period of exposure was about two years. 

These bone sarcomas and head carcinomas have been seen in many radium dial painters and have appeared from 5 to more than 50 years after first exposure to radium. Of those dial painters for whom radium intakes have been estimated (a total of 1,907), 41 have developed bone sarcomas,... 

It is important to note, however, that the radium dial painters had chronic dermal exposure to radium on their lips and tongues. Although no recognition of this fact has been located in the literature, it is noteworthy that no local effects on exposed skin have been described in the available case studies of these workers (eg., Martland 1931 Sharpe 1974). 

Systemic Effects. Diseases of the hematopoietic tissues have been reported in patients given repeated injections of radium-224. Anemia, panmyelophthisis, and chronic myeloid leukemia were seen in excess of the control levels in these cases (compared with a higher incidence of acute leukemia in the control group) (Wick et al. 1986). Anemia has also been reported in case studies of the radium dial painters (Martland 1931), but the disease patterns have not been clearly established (Sharpe 1974). 

Immunological Effects. Evidence of radium s potential effects on the human immune system was presented by Reitter and Martland (1926) in the case study of a chemist who developed acute leukopenia after working with radium for 14 years. Autopsy revealed almost total absence of granular leukocytes, leukoblastic groups, and lymphoid tissue in the bone marrow. Similarly, Martland (1931) described the development of leukopenia in the radium dial painters. 

In Great Britain, radium dial painters with higher total radium-226 intakes and who were younger than 30 years of age at the start of painting showed an excess of breast cancers (Baverstock and Papworth 1989). External gamma ray exposure to the radioactive paint could also have been the cause of cancer in this population. 

Cloutier RJ. 1980. Florence Kelley and the radium dial painters. Health Phys 39 711-716. 

Martland H. 1931. The occurrence of malignancy in radioactive persons A general review of data gathered in the study of the radium dial painters, with special reference to the occurrence of osteogenic sarcoma and the inter-relationship of certain blood diseases. Am J Cancer 15 2435-2515. 

Rowland RE, Lucas HF, Schlenker RA. 1989. External radiation doses received by radium dial painters. Br J Radiol 21 67-71. 

The highest effects were seen in the radium dial painters who tipped their paint brushes during painting. The only late effect was osteogenic sarcoma no leukemia was noted. Radium was retained in the body >1% after 1,000 days (>2.5 years) loss of radium from the body matched the simple power function in several studies... 

Rowland RE, Stehney AF, Lucas HE. 1978. Dose-response relationships or female radium dial painters. Radiat. Res 76 368-383. 

For both humans and laboratory animals, one cannot currently distinguish between a radiation-induced cancer and a spontaneously occurring cancer (i.e., from an unknown cause). Therefore, statistical methods are used to determine whether radiation exposure is associated with an increase in cancer in a given study population. There have been several epidemiological studies in which definite dose-response relationships have been established for radiation-induced cancers. The best studied populations include atomic bomb survivors, Tinea capitis irradiation patients, ankylosing spondylitis irradiation patients, radium dial painters, radium therapy radium-224 patients, Thorotrast patients, uranium miners, Chernobyl fallout victims, and Mayak plutonium facility workers. 

Martland, H. S. The Occurrence of Malignancy in Radioactive Persons (Luminous-Radium Dial Painters). mericow7ouma/of Canceri (1931) 24-35. 

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