Flutterby™! : Radium Girls

Woman Believed To Be Last Of Waterbury's Radium Girls Dies:

Keane and her co-workers at Waterbury Clock Co., all young women, were told they could paint faster if they dipped their brushes into the radium-laden paint and then sharpened the bristles with their lips.

But the paint was bitter and Keane would not "lip-point," as the practice was known.