Among the first uses of beryllium: fluorescent lights. Workers coated the insides with beryllium-containing phosphors to help make the glass tubes glow.

At the time, beryllium dust was considered harmless. No one wore respirators, and no one appeared to be getting sick.

Then came World War II.

Suddenly, the U.S. government needed tons of beryllium for the top secret Manhattan Project, the $2 billion effort to build the world's first atomic bomb.

Beryllium plants signed government contracts and began shipping orders to Manhattan Project sites. To maintain the secrecy of the project, shipments were in unmarked packages, identified only by code names, such as Product 38. "The word 'beryllium' should never be used," one government document warned.

In 1943, federal officials ran into a problem that threatened supplies: Beryllium workers, many in the Cleveland area, began developing a mysterious illness.

They were coughing, losing weight, and becoming breathless. Many recovered, but some grew sicker and died.

A Cleveland Clinic doctor concluded in 1943 that beryllium dust was toxic. But the U.S. Public Health Service, in a report that same year, thought some other agent was to blame.

As the controversy brewed, the government stepped up its beryllium orders. When the factories couldn't keep up, the government spent millions to expand them.

By the mid-1940s, dozens of people had become sick, both at Manhattan Project sites and in the fluorescent light industry.

And the mysterious disease was exhibiting a new twist. Researchers studying the fluorescent light industry concluded in 1946 that workers were getting sick months - even years - after their last exposure to beryllium. No one was recovering from this form of the illness, which would become known as chronic beryllium disease.

By now, most scientists and industry leaders agreed that beryllium dust was toxic.

The government recommended safety improvements and supplied respirators for some workers. But it was also deeply concerned about its image.

A 1947 secret report by the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission, or AEC, warned that the disease "might be headlined, particularly in non-friendly papers, for weeks and months - each new case bringing an opportunity for a rehash of the story. This might seriously embarrass the AEC and reduce public confidence in the organization."

Despite mounting sickness, the AEC remained "acutely interested in maintaining and expanding production of beryllium," according to the report, which was recently declassified.

The agency's mission - building nuclear weapons - depended on it.

"The AEC appears to be stuck with beryllium," the report said, "and hence stuck with the public relations problem."

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