Radithor

Radithor was a patent medicine that is a well-known example of radioactive quackery. It consisted of triple distilled water containing at a minimum 1 microcurie (37 kBq) each of the radium 226 and 228 isotopes.

History

Radithor was manufactured from 1918 to 1928 by the Bailey Radium Laboratories, Inc., of East Orange, New Jersey. The owner of the company and head of the laboratories was listed as Dr. William J. A. Bailey, a dropout from Harvard College,[1] who was not a medical doctor.[2] It was advertised as "A Cure for the Living Dead"[3] as well as "Perpetual Sunshine".

Eben Byers, a wealthy American socialite, athlete, industrialist and Yale College graduate, died from Radithor radiation poisoning in 1932.[4]

The Wall Street Journal article describing the Byers incident was called "The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off".[5] Byers's death led to the strengthening of the Food and Drug Administration's powers and the demise of most radiation-based patent medicines.

References

  1. ↑ "Medicine: Radium Drinks". Time. Apr 11, 1932. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  2. ↑ Literary Digest, 16 April 1932
  3. ↑ Radium Cures - museumofquackery.com
  4. ↑ "Death Stirs Action on Radium 'Cures'. Trade Commission Speeds Its Inquiry. Health Department Checks Drug Wholesalers. Autopsy Shows Symptoms. Maker of "Radithor" Denies It Killed Byers, as Does Victim's Physician in Pittsburgh. Walker Uses Apparatus. Friends Alarmed to Find Mayor Has Been Drinking Radium-Charged Water for Last Six Months.". New York Times. April 2, 1932. Retrieved 2011-10-01. Federal and local agencies, as well as medical authorities in various parts of the country, were stirred to action yesterday as a result of the death of Eben M. Byers, wealthy Pittsburgh steel manufacturer and sportsman, who died here Wednesday at the Doctors' Hospital from causes attributed to radium poisoning resulting from the drinking of water containing radium in solution. ...
  5. ↑ http://www.case.edu/affil/MeMA/MCA/11-20/1991-Nov.pdf

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