It started with a toothache. Just a dull, nagging throb that wouldn't quit. Grace Fryer was 23, working as a bank teller in New Jersey, and probably figured she just needed a quick filling. But when the tooth came out, the gum didn't heal. Then the next tooth loosened. Then her hair started thinning.
By 1923, the horror was undeniable. Her jawbone was literally crumbling. When her dentist touched it, the bone didn't feel like bone anymore; it felt like ash.
Grace Fryer wasn't sick because of bad luck. She was being eaten from the inside out by an element the world once called a miracle: radium. We know her today as the leader of the "Radium Girls," but back then, she was just a woman trying to figure out why her face was falling apart.
The "Lip, Dip, Paint" Routine
Before she was a bank teller, Grace spent the war years at the United States Radium Corporation (USRC) in Orange, New Jersey. It was 1917. She was 18. Honestly, it was a dream job.
While other girls were sweating in textile mills for pennies, the "Ghost Girls" were making bank painting watch dials. They used "Undark," a glow-in-the-dark paint that made military compasses and watches visible in the trenches of World War I. To get the numbers perfect, the instructors taught them a specific trick: "lip-pointing."
- Lip: Put the brush in your mouth to sharpen the tip.
- Dip: Dunk it in the glowing green paint.
- Paint: Apply it to the tiny dial.
Every time Grace "pointed" her brush, she swallowed a tiny bit of radium. The company told her it was safe. They said it would put "roses in her cheeks." For fun, the girls would even paint their nails and teeth with the leftover glow-juice before going out on dates. They literally sparkled in the dark.
📖 Related: Dr. Sharon Vila Wright: What You Should Know About the Houston OB-GYN
Why Grace Fryer's Radium Jaw Was Different
You've probably heard of "phossy jaw" from the matchstick factories of the 1800s. That was gross, sure, but radium was a whole different beast.
See, the human body is kinda dumb when it comes to chemistry. It sees radium and thinks, "Hey, that looks exactly like calcium!" So, it scoops up that radioactive material and deposits it straight into the bones. Especially the jaw, which is constantly moving and remodeling itself.
Once it’s in there, it’s not leaving. Radium has a half-life of 1,600 years. It sits in the bone marrow and blasts the surrounding tissue with alpha particles. It’s like having millions of tiny cannons firing inside your skeleton 24/7.
Grace’s jaw became "honeycombed." The bone became so porous and brittle that it eventually fractured under its own weight. Doctors were baffled. Some even tried to blame it on syphilis to protect the company's reputation, which is just incredibly messed up.
The Lawsuit That Nobody Wanted to Take
Grace Fryer wasn't just a victim; she was a fighter. But finding a lawyer in the 1920s who was willing to sue a massive government contractor like USRC was almost impossible.
👉 See also: Why Meditation for Emotional Numbness is Harder (and Better) Than You Think
She spent two years being rejected. Most lawyers thought the "statute of limitations" (usually two years for personal injury) had already passed. Since radium poisoning takes years to show up, the clock had run out before she even knew she was sick.
Finally, a young attorney named Raymond Berry stepped up in 1927. By then, Grace was joined by four other women:
- Quinta McDonald
- Albina Larice
- Edna Hussman
- Katherine Schaub
The press called them "The Five Women Doomed to Die." It was a media circus. At one point, during a hearing, Grace was so weak she couldn't even raise her hand to take the oath. Her spine was collapsing, and she had to wear a steel brace just to sit upright.
The Settlement and the Legacy
USRC fought dirty. They tried to delay the trial as long as possible, basically waiting for the girls to die so the case would go away. But the public outcry was too loud. Famous journalists like Walter Lippmann took up the cause, and the "miracle" of radium was finally exposed as a death sentence.
In June 1928, they settled. Each girl got $10,000 (roughly $180,000 today) and a $600 annual annuity. The company also agreed to pay for all their past and future medical bills.
✨ Don't miss: Images of Grief and Loss: Why We Look When It Hurts
Grace Fryer died on October 27, 1933. She was only 34. The official cause was a radium-induced sarcoma in her shoulder, but her body was so radioactive that if you stood over her grave with a Geiger counter today, it would still click.
Why This Matters for You Today
It’s easy to look back and think, "How could they be so stupid?" But we do this all the time with new tech and chemicals. Grace Fryer’s nightmare is the reason we have:
- OSHA: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration exists because of this case.
- Workers' Comp: The right to sue for occupational diseases, not just immediate accidents, was solidified here.
- Radiation Safety: The standards developed by studying the "Radium Girls" literally paved the way for safety protocols in the Manhattan Project.
If you want to dive deeper into this, look for Kate Moore’s book "The Radium Girls." It’s the definitive account and doesn't sugarcoat anything. You can also visit the National Archives website to see the actual court documents from the 1928 settlement.
The most important thing you can do is stay skeptical of "miracle" health trends that haven't been long-term tested. Whether it's a new supplement or a workplace chemical, Grace's story teaches us that "safe" is often a relative term used by people who aren't the ones taking the risk.
Check your own local history for Superfund sites. Many of the old radium plants, like the one in Orange, New Jersey, required decades of EPA cleanup to make the soil safe again. Knowledge of your environment is the best way to prevent history from repeating itself in your own backyard.