13. People poisoned themselves with radium
Radium was discovered by husband and wife Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898. Its earliest commercial use was in radio-luminous paint, which was applied to the dials of clocks, watches, and other instruments allowing them to be seen clearly in the dark. Although scientists and engineers were usually well informed of the dangers of using radium and the precautions to be taken, the general public was not. During the 1920s a lawsuit was filed by five women who had worked as dial painters for the United States Radium Corporation, where they had been instructed to maintain the fine points of their paintbrushes by licking them, thereby absorbing the radium. Eventually all died from radium related illnesses. They became known as the Radium Girls.
Prior to the Radium Girl case raising awareness of the hazards of the material, radium was touted by patent medicine manufacturers and other swindlers for its medicinal powers, and was included in some cosmetics, toothpastes, tonics, and some breads and other prepared foods. The Radium Girl case and several cases of cancer blamed on consumption of radium water ended the fad use of the substance, and shortly after World War II its use to create luminous dials was ended. Both Marie and Pierre Curie died of illnesses which were the result of their experiments and work with radium and the radon gas which is the daughter of radium. How many others died from exposure to radium before its hazards became well known is impossible to estimate.