I've just watched this and from the moment Karen found out she was contaminated, i instantly thought the company did it like they secretly put it in her drink or something... does anyone know if its true? oh and also was the company poising the workers as well? so then they did poison her or not?
shareWe know for a fact that someone intentionally contaminated her with plutonium. The tests done on her body after her death and the samples taken from her before she died showed that the plutonium in her body was produced in the plant that she worked in but that Karen herself didn't work on or have access to the particular production lot (P-29) that she was poisoned with. In October and November 1974, when she was contaminated, P-29 was being kept in a vault in the factory that only management had access to.
So, yes, they did poison her. But it's impossible to know exactly who did it.
I'm guessing they wanted to terrify her into backing off from her union activities and investigations. A lot of people think she killed over the X-rays of faulty fuel rod welds but I think they were more worried about her knowing that 17 kilograms of plutonium produced in the plant had gone missing and it hadn't been reported. I think the documents she had with her when she died were copies of fuel rod x-rays but, more importantly, she may have also had inventory that proved that plutonium was missing.
"We know for a fact that someone intentionally contaminated her with plutonium."
We don't know that for a fact at all. What is a fact is that KS was continually coming up with much, much higher levels of contamination than anyone else at the plant, even during times at work when she wasn't even handling materials that would cause it. Interestingly enough, high levels of activity had been found in four urine samples that KS had collected at home whereas those that were collected at the Kerr-McGee plant or Los Alamos contained very small amounts of plutonium, if any at all. I know she swore that somebody put plutonium into her jar, she spilled her urine, brought her bologna into the bathroom with her, etc., but hmmmmm. She sure had a story for everything, that's for sure.
"[T]hat only management had access to."
Sure about that one? I would say that at that plant there wasn't much that someone couldn't get their hands on if they really wanted it. I don't know if that stuff was under lock and key or not--my guess is no. Also, was the plutonium that was missing from the plant also the same kind that KS was infected with? Just curious.
"So, yes, they did poison her."
Who is they, in particular? Also, see my first response.
"I think the documents she had with her when she died were copies of fuel rod x-rays . . ."
Maybe, maybe not. However, it should be noted that the fuel rods sent to Washington state for usage were checked in the aftermath of her death. They were fine.
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Hey, KM were likely the biggest *beep* around--I'm certainly not defending them. The safety at that plant was a joke. However, the real Karen Silkwood was a known union activist with an ax to grind, and was perhaps looking for respect and notoriety that she wasn't going to be able to get otherwise. The bottom line is that something fishy happened at her apartment (not a house as seen in the movie). I would also say that if her union really wanted results, the shouldn't have sent a gal hooked on ludes to do their dirty work. That was what caused her actual death, not a KM hitman lurking on Hwy 74 in Oklahoma.
Replies welcome...
I haven't done any research on this topic but when it was suggested in the film, I thought of when she opened those time capsule amphetamines in front of her co worker. After that scene you see her taking more of them later in the bathroom so I thought it was a tricky way of suggesting he put some plutonium in one of her time capsules? Especially since he comes to their house after it's been stripped kind of gloating. I dunno, just a thought.
This would be strictly for the movie, though.
edit:
I just thought about it more and she mentions contaminating her urine samples, and if you look on wikipedia it mentions the same thing. No one truly knows, it's ups to you to make the decision but I would say the movie veers it to the side that they did contaminate her on purpose.
I think the movie implies that it was combination of :
1). The company had poor safety conditions. See the X-ray cover up. See the truck that they dispose secretly in the middle of the night. One of the doctors at the plant is really a vet.
2). Norma (and the other workers’) did not take safety seriously. She had to be reminded to check her hands on the device at the door. They had a cake party in the working area. She has one worker take gum off her face while she is working. Only after she takes interest in the union does she read the company packets about plutonium and safety. That suggests that most of the employees never read the packets, and the company never gave them an orientation about safety
I do not believe that the movie suggests that anyone poisoned Karen. The movie suggests that she was a victim of an unsafe workplace