In 1941, the Waterbury Clock Company decided to address some of their employees’ concerns, and due to the risks employees faced on the job, the company agreed with the union to increase wages by two cents.Īn article from the Pittsburgh Press, December 30, 1931, describing the death of Edith Lapiano, 25, a victim of radium poisoning Painful Lessons Learned This did not only affect workers in Waterbury, but also Illinois and New Jersey, where both states lost 30 to 40 women due to lip-dipping. But most of the women did not see the effects of lip-dipping until long after the five year requirement, when they developed cancer. This change did not affect some of the women, however, because their symptoms became evident in a very rapid fashion. In 1927, a woman now had only three years to file a claim, rather than the typical five. Due to these expenses, the company decided to change its qualifications for worker’s compensation. Between 19, the company issued over $90,000 in medical settlements. This finally motivated the Waterbury Clock Company to forcefully denounce lip-dipping in their factory.Īfter 1926 it became evident that radium at the Waterbury Clock Company caused illnesses and deaths among their workers. The following year, Mary Damulis, also in her early twenties, died due to lip-dipping. Just four years later, twenty-two-year-old Mildred Cardow died from working with radium at the Waterbury Clock Company. Although Waterbury Clock Company officials were beginning to understand the effects of radium on their workers, they rejected the company’s connection to Splettstocher’s death (but discouraged lip-dipping after 1925). She suffered the common symptoms and ailments of radium poisoning, such as: anemia, sore throat, deteriorating jaw, soft teeth, spontaneous bone fractures, and aches. Detail of an advertisement for Waterbury Clock Co.’s Luminous-Sunrise, a part of the Nickel Alarm Clock lineįrances Splettstocher, a woman in her early twenties, was the first to die in the Waterbury Radium Girls tragedy.
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