Radium poisoning industrial cover-up (1920s-1930s)

Company operating 1917-1926 in Orange, New Jersey, that manufactured radium-based luminous paint (marketed as Undark) for watches and military instruments. USRC employed approximately 70 women painters and became the primary target of litigation by the Radium Girls.

• Company protected its own scientists and management with lead screens, tongs, and masks while workers had no protection
• Company rejected claims that radium caused worker illness, blaming external infections instead
• Company suppressed medical research findings and threatened lawsuits against researchers
• Company president Arthur Roeder authorized submission of altered research reports to regulators