A closer look
Factory managers in the 1920s encouraged female workers to lick paintbrushes coated in radioactive radium to keep the tips pointed while painting glowing numbers on watch dials. The women were repeatedly assured that the magical glowing substance was perfectly safe, right up until their teeth started falling out and their jawbones literally crumbled into dust from aggressive radiation poisoning. The tragic saga of the Radium Girls forced the creation of modern labor rights and workplace safety laws, after the corporations spent years shamelessly denying any responsibility. It serves as a horrific historical reminder that corporate executives will cheerfully convince you to consume literal poison if it saves them a few pennies on manufacturing costs and speeds up the assembly line
