Radithor was a

radioactive 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 conside ...

patent medicine A patent medicine (sometimes called a proprietary medicine) is a non-prescription medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name, and claimed to be effective against minor disorders a ...

brand of

distilled water Distilled water is water that has been purified by boiling it into vapor then condensing it back into liquid in a separate container. Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of water remain in the origin ...

containing at least each of the

radium-226 Radium-226 () is the longest-lived isotope of radium, with a half-life of 1600 years. It is an intermediate product in the decay chain of uranium-238; as such, it can be found naturally in uranium-containing minerals. Occurrence and decay occ ...

and

228 Year 228 ( CCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Modestus and Maecius (or, less frequently, year 981 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 228 for this ...

isotopes, sold in half-ounce bottles. In 1932, the illness and death of

business magnate A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

Eben Byers was unambiguously linked to his fervent use of Radithor, leading to the collapse of the radium fad and the strengthening of regulatory control of pharmaceutical and radioactive products in the United States. Introduced in 1918, Radithor was William J. A. Bailey's biggest commercial success, selling 400,000 bottles between 1925 and 1930. The

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) issued warnings against the use of Radithor but did not have the authority to ban it during this period.

History

Radithor was manufactured from 1918 to 1928 by the Bailey Radium Laboratories of

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

. The owner of the company and head of the laboratories was listed as William J. A. Bailey, a dropout from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

, who was not a medical doctor. It was advertised as "A Cure for the Living Dead" as well as "Perpetual Sunshine". The expensive product was claimed to cure

impotence Erectile dysfunction (ED), also referred to as impotence, is a form of sexual dysfunction in males characterized by the persistent or recurring inability to achieve or maintain a Human penis, penile erection with sufficient rigidity and durat ...

among other ills. Eben Byers, a wealthy American socialite, athlete, industrialist, and

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

graduate, who drank 1400 bottles of Radithor beginning in 1927, died in 1932 of various cancers as a result; before he died his jaw had to be removed. Byers was buried in a lead-lined coffin; when exhumed in 1965 for study, his remains were still radioactive and measured at 225,000

becquerel The becquerel (; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI). One becquerel is defined as an activity of one per second, on average, for aperiodic activity events referred to a radionuclide. For applicatio ...

s. As a comparison, the roughly 0.0169 g of

potassium-40 Potassium-40 (K) is a long lived and the main naturally occurring radioactive isotope of potassium. Its half-life is 1.25 billion years. It makes up about 0.012% (120 parts-per notation, ppm) of natural potassium. Potassium-40 undergoes four dif ...

present in a typical human body produces approximately 4,400 becquerels. His death led to the strengthening of the

's powers and the demise of most radiation-based

s. A ''Wall Street Journal'' article describing the Byers incident (published in August 1990) was titled "The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off".

References

{{Reflist *Radithor (ca. 1918). 15 Sep. 2004. Oak Ridge Associated Universities. 12 Apr. 200

External links

Radithor
at th
Oak Ridge Associated Universities Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Museum CollectionPromotional article in Deseret News, 26 Feb 1909
Patent medicines Radioactive quackery Radium Products introduced in 1918 Withdrawn drugs

History

See also

References

External links