Carter Roy

They destroy evidence.

And they smear the reputations of dying women.

There's no shadowy cabal here.

No secret society.

Just people with information deciding who else gets to have it.

that's a conspiracy that shows up more often than you'd think.

The people who know choosing silence.

The people with power deciding the truth would cost them too much.

On another level, it's a story of remarkable courage.

Women like Grace Fryer and Catherine Donahue, their bodies literally falling apart, refuse to stay silent.

They fight for years against powerful corporations.

Many of them die before seeing the outcome of their lawsuits.

But perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the story is how easily it almost stays hidden.

The companies come terrifyingly close to getting away with it.

If Alice Hamilton hadn't discovered the forged report, if Raymond Berry hadn't agreed to take the case, if Elizabeth Hughes hadn't provided irrefutable scientific evidence,

How many other industrial poisonings happen that we never learn about?

How many workers die with syphilis on their death certificates when the real cause is their employer's negligence?

The Radium Girls change all of that because their cases are among the first in American history where a company is held liable for the occupational health of its employees.

It establishes something we might take for granted.

Employers have a legal responsibility for their workers' health.