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hair brushes, and, as is the custom of an artist, they wet the brush in the mouth and gave it a twist. They did that and then they dipped the brush in the radium paint. They got this terrible radium poisoning, which finally penetrated into the bony structure. Nobody knew that that would be harmful. There was certainly no intention of harm on the part of the manufacturer. The superintendent of the plant died of it himself. One of the partners died of it. It was just sheer ignorance.
It wasn't until after these cases had turned up where the symptom shown was the disintegration of the bony structure, that we began to be aroused about it. Everywhere persons concerned with these matters began to be aroused about it. The State of New Jersey at once passed a bill to prohibit the use of radium for these purposes. Everywhere we made rules about the use of radium paint - quick, hastily drawn things. We particularly asked companies to put up instructions that the paint brushes must not be put in the mouth. However, there's no other way of pointing a camel's hair brush. If you must draw a fine line, there's just nothing else to do. It was a very difficult situation. That was not covered in our occupational disease law either, because it was an unheard of occupational disease at the time when the English law was drawn. We had merely copied the English law.
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