- Radithor
Radithor was a well known
patent medicine /snake oil that is possibly the best known example ofradioactive quackery . It consisted of triple distilled water containing at a minimum convert|1|uCi|lk=on each of theRadium 226 and 228 isotopes, as well as 1 microcurie ofisothiouranium , a cheaper radioactive compound.Radithor was manufactured from 1918-28 by the Bailey Radium Laboratories, Inc., of
East Orange, New Jersey . The head of the laboratories was listed as Dr. William J. A. Bailey, not a medical doctor. [ Literary Digest, 16 April 1932. [http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/northside/nor_n106.html] ] It was advertised as "A Cure for the Living Dead" [ [http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/radium.htm Radium Cures - museumofquackery.com ] ] as well as "Perpetual Sunshine".These radium elixirs were marketed similar to the way opiates were peddled to the masses with
Laudanum an age earlier, and electrical cure-alls during the same time period such as theProstate Warmer . [ [http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/prostate.htm Prostate Cures - museumofquackery.com ] ]The eventual death of the socialite
Eben Byers from Radithor consumption and the associatedradiation poisoning led to the strengthening of theFood and Drug Administration 's powers and the demise of most radiation quack cures.References
* Radithor (ca. 1918). 15 Sep. 2004. Oak Ridge Associated Universities. 12 Apr. 2005 [http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/quackcures/radith.htm] .
Associated links
* [http://www.orau.org/PTP/collection/quackcures/radith.htm Radithor] at the [http://www.orau.org/PTP/museumdirectory.htm Oak Ridge Associated Universities Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Museum Collection]
* [http://www.sciamdigital.com/browse.cfm?sequencenameCHAR=item2&methodnameCHAR=resource_getitembrowse&interfacenameCHAR=browse.cfm&ISSUEID_CHAR=FC103ADB-0286-4433-B3C8-5C7978B981A&ARTICLEID_CHAR=7BF8F182-2D4D-40D1-A59A-2A0FFDB401F&sc=I100322 Scientific American; August 1993; The Great Radium Scandal; by Roger Macklis]
* [http://theodoregray.com/periodictable/Elements/088/index.html Theodore Gray's Periodic Table of Elements]
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