Question, is radium silk still being produced and what is it called now?
Well, in a quick look I found a place in Pakistan referred to as a Radium Silk Factory, so maybe someone is still making silk referred to as Radium Silk. Googling the term may answer your question.
This is the entire story I wrote a few years ago about my Radium Silk shirt, which led me to assume they aren't making that anymore. Nylon, however, may have stepped in to fill that void.
Is Radium Silk Radioactive?
A couple of months ago I was given a bag of marvelous early-1920’s clothing items from a friend who inherited them from her now-deceased Philadelphia, PA grandmother. I set them aside until a few days ago and upon going through them I was surprised to find a lustrous silk men’s shirt with a label marked: “Genuine Tru-Dye Radium Pure Silk.“ My eyebrows shot up as I marveled at the possible health risks “Radium Pure Silk” implied—THEN and to me NOW.
I started an online search as far back as possible for information about radium silk and found at
https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1008/ML100840118.pdf a fascinating 2008 document on historical items purported to contain radium and prepared by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The introduction explains the report: “
In the years following the discovery of radium-226 in 1898 by Madame Curie, radium became a novelty product used in everything from medicinal ‘cures’ to children’s toys. At the time, radium was believed to pose negligible risk due to the radiation, and in fact was believed to have many health benefits. However, over time the risks became apparent, and the use of radium in consumer products was gradually phased out, with the last common consumer application being in luminescent timepieces in the 1960s.” This last sentence confirmed my husband’s claim that in about 1960 he owned a Belforte watch with hands that glowed from radium paint…and he is still alive and, apparently, unscathed.
The report introduction adds: “
While radium-containing consumer products are no longer generally produced, many of the historically produced items are in circulation, sold in antique stores, held in private collections and displayed in museums. Record keeping by the manufacturers at the time was poor, and most companies that manufactured the products are no longer in existence. This makes identification of these items and finding applicable information difficult” and
“Under contract with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) has compiled this catalog of historical items known to or claimed to contain radium…”
Radium silk does not appear in the catalog, so I contacted ORAU to ask about the omission. Within an hour Paul Frame of ORAU replied: “
You are correct. The fabric is not radioactive. The ORAU generated document that you referred to included items that were known to contain radium or had the possibility of containing radium. As such radium silk was not included…”
