View source for Chemistry:Radithor

{{Short description|Fake radioactive patent medicine}}
[[File:Radithor bottle (25799475341).jpg|thumb|A bottle of Radithor at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in New Mexico, United States]]
'''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 [[Biology:Radiation hormesis|radiation hormesis]]. It consisted of triple-distilled water containing at a minimum {{convert|1|uCi|lk=on}} each of the [[Chemistry:Radium|radium]] 226 and 228 isotopes.

The time of Radithor and radioactive elixirs ended in 1932, with the premature death of one of its most fervent users, Eben Byers, an American golfer. This history led to the strengthening of regulatory control of pharmaceutical and radioactive products.

==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 [[Biography:William J. A. Bailey|William J. A. Bailey]], a dropout from Harvard College,<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,743525,00.html |title=Medicine: Radium Drinks |date=Apr 11, 1932|magazine={{wipe|Time (magazine)}} |accessdate=11 July 2010}}</ref> who was not a medical doctor.<ref>[http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/northside/nor_n106.html Literary Digest, 16 April 1932] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203072143/http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/northside/nor_n106.html |date=3 December 2010 }}</ref> It was advertised as "A Cure for the Living Dead"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/radium.htm|title=Radium Cures |work=Museum of Quackery|access-date=27 October 2021}}</ref> as well as "Perpetual Sunshine". The expensive product was claimed to cure impotence among other ills.<ref name=Conversation>{{cite news|last1=Jorgensen|first1=Timothy J.|title=When 'energy' drinks actually contained radioactive energy|url=https://theconversation.com/when-energy-drinks-actually-contained-radioactive-energy-67976|accessdate=4 November 2016|work=The Conversation US|date=2 November 2016}}</ref>

Eben Byers, a wealthy American socialite, athlete, industrialist, and Yale College graduate, died in 1932 of various cancers as a result of Radithor use.<ref>{{cite news |title=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. |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0F16F93D5A13738DDDAB0894DC405B828FF1D3 |quote=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. ... |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |date=April 2, 1932 |accessdate=2011-10-01}}</ref> 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|becquerel]]s.<ref name=Conversation/> As a comparison, the roughly 0.0169 g of [[Physics:Potassium-40|potassium-40]] present in a typical human body produces approximately 4,400 becquerels.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Radioactive Human Body|url=https://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/presentations/radioactive-human-body|access-date=2021-01-21|website=sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu|language=en}}</ref>

Byers's death led to the strengthening of the [[Organization:Food and Drug Administration|Food and Drug Administration]]'s powers and the demise of most radiation-based patent medicines. 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".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://case.edu/affil/MeMA/MCA/11-20/1991-Nov.pdf|title=Medical Collectors Association - Newsletter 20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214144013/http://case.edu/affil/MeMA/MCA/11-20/1991-Nov.pdf|archive-date=2018-12-14|url-status=dead|access-date=2018-12-14}}</ref>

==See also==
*Radium ore Revigator
*Radioactive quackery

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Radithor (ca. 1918). 15 Sep. 2004. Oak Ridge Associated Universities. 12 Apr. 2005 [https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/pills-potions-and-other-miscellany/radithor.html].

==External links==
*[https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/pills-potions-and-other-miscellany/radithor.html Radithor] at the [https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/ Oak Ridge Associated Universities Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Museum Collection]
*[http://theodoregray.com/periodictable/Elements/088/index.html Theodore Gray's Periodic Table of Elements]
*[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19090226&id=3kIwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RUgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3965,2870664 Promotional article in Deseret News, 26 Feb 1909]

[[Category:Radium]]

{{Sourceattribution|Radithor}}