Radioactive quackery is

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

that improperly promotes radioactivity as a

therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...

for illnesses. Unlike

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Radia ...

, which is the scientifically sound use of

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

for the destruction of cells (usually

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

cells), quackery pseudo-scientifically promotes involving radioactive substances as a method of healing for cells and tissues. It was most popular during the early 20th century, after the discovery in 1896 of

radioactive decay Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...

. The practice has widely declined, but is still actively practised by some.

Notable examples

Radithor Radithor was a patent medicine that is a well-known example of radioactive quackery and specifically of excessively broad and pseudoscientific application of the principle of radiation hormesis. It consisted of triple distilled water containing at ...

, a solution of

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather t ...

salts In chemistry, a salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, which results in a compound with no net electric charge. A common example is table salt, with positively cha ...

, which was claimed by its developer William J. A. Bailey to have curative properties. Industrialist

Eben Byers Ebenezer McBurney Byers (April 12, 1880 – March 31, 1932) was a wealthy American socialite, sportsman, and industrialist. He won the 1906 U.S. Amateur in golf. He earned notoriety in the early 1930s when he died from multiple radiation-induc ...

died in 1932 from ingesting it in large quantities throughout 1927–1930. * One German brand of

toothpaste Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice used with a toothbrush to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it is an abrasive that aids in removing dental plaque and food from the teeth, a ...

from prior to the Second World War,

Doramad Radioactive Toothpaste Doramad Radioactive Toothpaste (''Doramad Radioaktive Zahncreme'') was a brand of toothpaste produced in Germany by Auergesellschaft of Berlin from the 1920s through World War II. It was known for containing thorium, a radioactive metal, and is ...

, contained small amounts of thorium that was a byproduct in the manufacture of gas lamp mantles. The advertising for this toothpaste stated "Your teeth will shine with radioactive brilliance". * A number of spas that treat visitors with naturally infused radon water from the local hills were founded in 1906 and onwards in

Jáchymov Jáchymov (); german: Sankt Joachimsthal or ''Joachimsthal'') is a spa town in Karlovy Vary District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,300 inhabitants. The historical core of the town from the 16th century is we ...

, Czech Republic, and still exist today. These spas were world-renowned, as evidenced by an article in the New Zealand ''Thames Star'' Supplement from 1912 (the article uses the Austrian name of the town, Joachimsthal). Similar spas currently exist in Germany, Ukraine and Austria and in Germany they are covered by public health insurance. * Revigator pots, which added

radon Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...

to drinking water. *

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

sand houses, where patients would sit on benches in a round room that had a floor composed of mildly radioactive sand (usually beach sand with crushed minerals like

carnotite Carnotite is a potassium uranium vanadate radioactive mineral with chemical formula K2( U O2)2( VO4)2·3 H2O. The water content can vary and small amounts of calcium, barium, magnesium, iron, and sodium are often present. Occurrence Carnotite ...

). These were popular in Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado during the 1950s. * Lying in a narrow box with sands that reputedly contained

uranium ore Uranium ore deposits are economically recoverable concentrations of uranium within the Earth's crust. Uranium is one of the more common elements in the Earth's crust, being 40 times more common than silver and 500 times more common than gold. It ...

was promoted as a treatment for

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

bursitis Bursitis is the inflammation of one or more bursae (fluid filled sacs) of synovial fluid in the body. They are lined with a synovial membrane that secretes a lubricating synovial fluid. There are more than 150 bursae in the human body. The bursa ...

, and

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

as late as 1956. * The

NICO Clean Tobacco Card The NICO Clean Tobacco Card was a device exported from Japan to the United States in the 1960s, consisting of a small card impregnated with uranium ore. The card was to be placed inside a pack of cigarettes, and the producers claimed that the ra ...

was a device exported from Japan to the United States in the 1960s, consisting of a small card with low-grade uranium ore on one side. The card was to be placed inside a pack of cigarettes, and the producers claimed that the radiation emitted by the card would reduce

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...

and

nicotine Nicotine is a natural product, naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreational drug use, recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As ...

. A similar product called the Nicotine Alkaloid Control Plate is reported to have contained

monazite Monazite is a primarily reddish-brown phosphate mineral that contains rare-earth elements. Due to variability in composition, monazite is considered a group of minerals. The most common species of the group is monazite-(Ce), that is, the cerium- ...

sand (with thorium). * Various consumer products such as

jewelry Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western ...

, pendants, wristbands and athletic tape are touted as incorporating "negative ion technology"—also advertised under other names such as "quantum scalar energy", "volcanic lava energy", and "quantum science". These products are purportedly infused with minerals that generate negative ions and are marketed as having health benefits or as a means of improving emotional well-being. The U.S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...

and various state agencies have cautioned that such products may contain radioactive material such as uranium and

thorium Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high me ...

to produce negative ions. Radioactivity levels of these products vary, with some products found to contain levels of radiation high enough to warrant increased regulatory control, such as requiring a radioactive materials license. *A number of alleged " anti-5G protection" products such as necklaces also received regulatory warnings. While their radioactivity levels are low, vendor recommendation to wear them all the time on body may result in absorbed dose exceeding safe limits.

References

External links

L’histoire étonnante du Tho-Radia
by Thierry Lefebvre and Cécile Raynal {{in lang, fr

Notable examples

See also

References

External links