History's deadliest colours

1. Introduction

1.1. In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie discovered Radium

1.2. Restorative properties -->added to medicine and food.

1.3. Beautiful colour --> added to jewelry.

1.4. 20th century - discovered to be harmful.

1.5. Not the only deadly pigment

2. White

2.1. 4th century B.C.E - greeks used white to create white

2.2. Directly absorbed by the body

2.3. Artists suffered from led poisoning

2.4. Symptoms: melancholy, coughing, blindness, etc.

2.5. It was unmatched, so it was used until it was banned in the 1970's.

3. Green

3.1. Two synthetic greens: Scheele's green & Paris green

3.2. Used in painting, clothing, wallpapers, and textiles.

3.3. Made with arsenic, linked to cancer and heart desease.

3.4. Frabric factory workers, poisoned & women in green dresses, collaped.

3.5. A century after its recipe was published, it became an insecticide.

4. Orange

4.1. Before WW2, uranium was used in coloured ceramic production.

4.2. At the time, it was not known uranium was radioactive nor that radiation was harmful.

4.3. Confiscated by the US for bomb development during WW2.

4.4. After 1959, depleted uranium was returned to ceramic manufacturers.

4.5. The ceramic coloured with Uranium during the next decade still has traces of radiation, but are safe to be kept in a shelf.

5. Conclusion

5.1. Even though we face some issues with synthetic food dyes, science has helped us remove dangerous colours from our lives.