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The Drink Which Contained Radioactive Materials
The unregulated pharmaceutical industry of the early 20th century created some strange medicine
The late 20the century bought forward the fact that radioactive material is not something we should be casually playing with. This did not become apparent until the world experienced the disastrous effects of this material after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Before this discovery, nuclear material was seen as the material of the future and thus many businessmen used the hype built around the material to increase the sales of their products. This was the case for the drink Radithor created in 1918.
The Roaring 20s
The 1920s was a time of prosperity for the United States. An economic boom created by a post-war society meant that the average American had the income to afford many luxuries unavailable to them before. Such luxuries included cars, radios and even telephones.
In a society of plentiful disposable income, businessmen will always come up with new innovative ideas to get their share of this unclaimed flow of money. Due to health being an ever-present concern on everyone’s minds this was a time when pseudo-scientific medicine started to hit the market en-masse. Radithor was one such drink.
Eben Byers
After Radithor was released by Bailey Radium Laboratories Inc., Eben Byers, a rich and prominent figure of America at the time, took a liking to the drink. This liking slowly turned into an addiction as Byers would consume the drink on a daily basis leading to him being exposed to high levels of radiation over the 3 years he consumed the drink.
Although each Radithor bottle contained only 1 microcurie of radium 226 and 228 this slow intake of radioactive material added up and turned lethal. Byers ended up dying in 1932, 3 years after his first dose…
