Claimed to have restorative properties, radium was added to toothpaste, medicine, water, and food.

因為號稱有治療效果，當時曾用鐳製作牙膏、藥品、水以及食物

A glowing, luminous green, it was also used in beauty products and jewelry.

一種發亮的螢光綠，它也曾被用來製作美妝品和珠寶首飾

It wasn't until the mid-20th century we realized that radium's harmful effects as a radioactive element outweighed its visual benefits.

直到 20 世紀中葉，人們才發現鐳是放射性元素，會危害生命，它的致命性超越視覺美感

Unfortunately, radium isn't the only pigment that historically seemed harmless or useful but turned out to be deadly.

不幸地，鐳並非歷史上唯一乍看下無害或有利用價值，卻危害生命的顏料

That lamentable distinction includes a trio of colors and pigments that we've long used to decorate ourselves and the things we make: white, green, and orange.

最惡名昭彰的是三種顏色和顏料，我們過去一直用來裝飾自己或物品：白色、綠色、橘色

Our story begins with white.

先從白色的故事講起

As far back as the 4th century BCE, the Ancient Greeks treated lead to make the brilliant white pigment we know today.

西元前 4 世紀時，古希臘人提煉鉛製成我們現在所知的白色

The problem?

有何危害？

In humans, lead is directly absorbed into the body and distributed to the blood, soft tissues, and mineralized tissues.

對人類來說，鉛會直接被人體吸收，滲透至血液、軟組織以及礦化組織

Once in the nervous system, lead mimics and disrupts the normal functions of calcium, causing damages ranging from learning disabilities to high blood pressure.

一旦擴散至神經系統，鉛會模仿並中斷鈣質的正常運作，造成身體損害，包括學習障礙以及高血壓

Yet the practice of using this toxic pigment continued across time and cultures.

然而這個有毒顏料仍繼續被各個時代和文化使用

Lead white was the only practical choice for white oil or tempera paint until the 19th century.

鉛白顏料是當時用來做油畫或蛋彩畫顏料的唯一選擇，一直持續到 19 世紀

To make their paint, artists would grind a block of lead into powder, exposing highly toxic dust particles.

為了作畫，畫家會把一塊鉛磨成粉末，畫家暴露在劇毒粉塵之中

The pigment's liberal use resulted in what was known as painter's colic, or what we'd now call lead poisoning.

此顏料的廣泛使用導致所謂的「畫家絞痛」，或是我們目前所稱的鉛中毒

Artists who worked with lead complained of palsies, melancholy, coughing, enlarged retinas, and even blindness.

長期使用鉛的畫家罹患中風、憂鬱、咳嗽、視網膜擴張，甚至失明

But lead white's density, opacity, and warm tone were irresistible to artists like Vermeer, and later, the Impressionists.

然而鉛白的密度、不透明性以及暖色調對於許多畫家極具魅力，例如維梅爾以及往後的印象派畫家

Its glow couldn't be matched, and the pigment continued to be widely used until it was banned in the 1970s.

它的色澤無可比擬，此顏料持續廣泛使用，一直到 1970 年代才被禁止

As bad as all that sounds, white's dangerous effects pale in comparison to another, more wide-spread pigment, green.

儘管聽起來很糟糕，鉛白的致命後果跟另一種顏料相比就遜色許多，一個更普及的顏料，綠色

Two synthetic greens called Scheele's Green and Paris Green were first introduced in the 18th century.

兩種合成綠，分別是謝勒綠以及巴黎綠，於 18 世紀時首次現身

They were far more vibrant and flashy than the relatively dull greens made from natural pigments, so they quickly became popular choices for paint as well as dye for textiles, wallpaper, soaps, cake decorations, toys, candy, and clothing.

這兩者顏色活潑鮮明，更勝於天然顏料製成的暗綠色，因此這兩顏色迅速成為熱門的作畫顏料，也用於染色磁磚、壁紙、香皂、蛋糕裝飾、玩具、糖果、服飾

These green pigments were made from a compound called cupric hydrogen arsenic.

這些綠色顏料由一種叫做砷酸氫銅的化合物製成

In humans, exposure to arsenic can damage the way cells communicate and function.

人類接觸砷，將損害細胞訊號傳達和運作機能

And high levels of arsenic have been directly linked to cancer and heart disease.

高含量的砷將直接導致癌症和心臟疾病

As a result, 18th century fabric factory workers were often poisoned, and women in green dresses reportedly collapsed from exposure to arsenic on their skin.

所以 18 世紀紡織廠工人常常因此中毒，而據說那些穿綠色洋裝的女性因為皮膚接觸砷而暈倒

Bed bugs were rumored not to live in green rooms, and it's even been speculated that Napoleon died from slow arsenic poisoning and it's even been speculated that Napoleon died from slow arsenic poisoning from sleeping in his green wallpapered bedroom.

謠傳床蝨都不敢待在綠色房間，甚至有人推測拿破崙是死於慢性砷中毒，因為長期睡在鋪著綠色壁紙的房間

The intense toxicity of these green stayed under wraps until the arsenic recipe was published in 1822.

這些綠色顏料的強烈毒性一直無人所知，直到 1822 才宣佈綠色顏料由砷製成

And a century later, it was repurposed as an insecticide.

經過一個世紀後，改作為殺蟲劑

Synthetic green was probably the most dangerous color in widespread use, but at least it didn't share radium's property of radioactivity.

合成綠大概是普遍使用最致命的顏色，但起碼綠色不像鐳具有放射性

Another color did, though - orange.

接下來的顏色卻有放射性 ─ 橘色

Before World War II, it was common for manufacturers of ceramic dinnerware to use uranium oxide in colored glazes.

二戰前，工廠製作陶瓷餐具的過程中時常使用氧化鈾將其染色

The compound produced brilliant reds and oranges, which were appealing attributes, if not for the radiation they emitted.

此合成物渲染出閃耀的紅色及橘色，如果不考慮它會釋放輻射的話，外型是非常吸引人

Of course, radiation was something we were unaware of until the late 1800s, let alone the associated cancer risks, which we discovered much later.

毫無疑問，人們一直到 1800 年晚期才發現輻射，更不用說導致罹癌風險，這是人們許久之後才發現的危害

During World War II, the U.S. government confiscated all uranium for use in bomb development.

二戰期間，美國政府徵收所有鈾，用來研發炸彈

However, the atomic energy commission relaxed these restrictions in 1959, and depleted uranium returned to ceramics and glass factory floors.

然而，1959 年美國原子能委員會放寬這些限制，那些消耗後的鈾又回到了製作瓷器和玻璃的工廠

Orange dishes made during the next decade may still have some hazardous qualities on their surfaces to this day.

在往後十年製作的橘色餐具，或許現今餐具表面仍有一些有害物質

Most notably, vintage fiestaware reads positive for radioactivity.

最明顯的是，古董餐盤仍被檢測出具有放射性

And while the levels are low enough that they don't officially pose a health risk if they're on a shelf, the U.S. EPA warns against eating food off of them.

雖然盤子的輻射量低，不會引發健康危機，前提是餐盤只擺在櫃子上，美國國家環境保護局反對從那些餐盤吃東西

Though we still occasionally run into issues with synthetic food dyes, our scientific understanding has helped us prune hazardous colors out of our lives.

即便我們仍然不時地會遇到合成食物色素的問題，目前的科學技術已幫助我們將具有危害的顏色從生活中除去