Radium (Ra) Of The Poisoner's Book Summary

In chapter 8 titled "Radium (Ra)" of The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum, the most interesting story developed within this chapter was the death of dial workers at Orange, New Jersey after been exposed to radium every day. It was interesting due to the fact that radium was used everywhere in the community and was never thought it could harm anyone. Radium was a super element that was used everywhere, but its continuous use unmasked its fatal habits. As it was stated in the text, "Radiant health, the ads proclaimed-beautiful skin, endless vigor, and eternal health—ingesting radium seemed the next best thing to drinking sunlight." (Blum 179). People were accepting radium as a natural gold element but they haven't realized constant contact

with it can kill them. It was even difficult to accept that many has continued to use it after what has happened to dial workers, but its popularity allowed many lives to be taken. Also, the title of the chapter relates to the element radium because it was the element that was discovered by German scientists which later turned into a self-luminous paint and it was used in almost every consumer product. However, this element has unmasked its true natures when it killed many workers in Radium Corporation. This is why the chapter is called radium.