 Former U.S. Radium Corp. paint application building, c.1995, in Orange, NJ | |
| Formerly | Radium Luminous Material Corporation |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Founded | 1914 in New York City, New York |
| Founders | Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky Dr. George S. Willis |
| Defunct | May 1970 |
| Fate | Merger |
| Successor | Safety Light Corporation (1982-2007) |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Glow-in-the-dark radioactive paint |
| Subsidiaries | Safety Light Corporation (1979-1982) USR Chemical Products USR Lighting USR Metals U.S. Natural Resources |
| Superfund site | |
| Geography | |
| City | Orange |
| County | Essex County |
| State | New Jersey |
| Information | |
| CERCLIS ID | NJD980654172 |
| Contaminants | Cadmium, Radium-228, radon, radionuclide, Thorium-230, Thorium-232, Uranium-234, Uranium-235, Uranium-238, Vanadium(V) oxide |
| Progress | |
| Proposed | December 30, 1982 |
| Listed | September 8, 1983 |
| Construction completed | September 28, 2006 |
| Partially deleted | August 23, 2004 |
| List of Superfund sites | |
The United States Radium Corporation was a company, most notorious for its operations between the years 1917 to 1926 in Orange, New Jersey, in the United States that led to stronger worker protection laws. After initial success in developing a glow-in-the-dark radioactive paint, the company was subject to several lawsuits in the late 1920s in the wake of severe illnesses and deaths of workers (the Radium Girls) who had ingested radioactive material. The workers had been told that the paint was harmless.[1] During World War I and World War II, the company produced luminous watches and gauges for the United States Army for use by soldiers.[2]
U.S. Radium workers, especially women who painted the dials of watches and other instruments with luminous paint, suffered serious radioactive contamination. Lawyer Edward Markley was in charge of defending the company in these cases.[1]
- ^ a b Paul Frame. "Radioluminescent Paint". www.orau.org. Oak Ridge Associated Universities. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
- ^ Stanley S. Bergen Jr. (October 2001). "U.S. Radium Corporation East Orange, NJ". University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. Newark, NJ: University Libraries Special Collections. Archived from the original on 20 December 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2016.