When Products Were Nuclear
In the early decades of the 20th century, scientists were experimenting with the new element Radium trying to find commercial use. They did and included it in common products like cosmetics, toothpaste, and even medicine that contained Radium.
Since Radium was discovered in France by Marie and Pierre Curie, most companies were also french. Cosmetic companies like; Artes, Tho-Radia, and Radior put Radium into all the products they could. Lipstick, creams, talcum powder, soap, and more. Some products only claimed to have Radium but didn’t include any to capitalize on its popularity. This is one of the reasons why Radium didn’t become a major health crisis. The products sold well in Europe, but not so well in the United States because of the reduced use of Radium in U.S. medicine, and people didn’t think that such an expensive material could be used in cosmetics.
Most of the time, the products only included Radium so they could say they were radioactive. There was no theory of how radioactivity might help someone. However, the more expensive ones did contain a lot of Radium. Enough to cause cancer and burns.
There was a variety of radioactive quack medicine in the early 1900s, but RadiThor, radioactive distilled water claimed to be a panacea but causing radiation poisoning instead. It was advertised as “A Cure for the Living Dead” and “Perpetual Sunshine”. RadiThor’s most famous customer was Eben Byers, an industrialist, socialite, and amateur golfer. Eben became addicted to RadiThor, despite the product containing no narcotics. He drank one or two bottles a day for three years. Which is a lot of radiation. He developed holes in his skull, lost most of his jaw, and had a variety of other bone-related illnesses. Eben Byers died on March 31, 1932.
The dangers of radiation was already known when Eben started drinking RadiThor. Eben was buried in a lead-lined coffin. When Eben was exhumed in 1965 to measure the amount of Radium in his bones, it was identical to the day he died.
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