In the early morning of March 31, 1932, Eben M. Byers died in pain in a new York hospital.
He was killed by radium. This dangerous substance was deposited inside him, and his bones, internal organs and even breathing were radioactive. The bones of Byers's whole body were disintegrating, he had already lost most of his jaw, and there were even large holes in his skull, a scene so tragic that witnesses could not bear to describe.
Byers is a rich man in the steel business and an excellent amateur golfer. Whether considering financial or physical strength, it is difficult to imagine such a celebrity dying at the age of 51.
The culprit behind this is one of the most dangerous "energy drinks" ever made, Radithor.
Author drawing
Ingesting radiation like a drink is something that's hard for people to imagine these days — after all, we've learned in school how dangerous they are. However, in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, there was a ridiculous trend of using the radioactive element radium to "strengthen the body". Radium water is the most representative product in this trend.
Radium water was born in 1925 and was produced by the Bailey Radium Laboratory, whose founder was william J. A. Bailey. Although it may seem high-tech, the steps to produce radium water are actually quite simple: Bailey Radium Laboratory simply buys radium salts from another nearby laboratory and dissolves them in distilled water. After such a simple process, the value of these solutions rose by nearly 500%, turning them into magical "patent drugs".
An empty radium water bottle containing a small amount of radium-226 and radium-228 solution | National Museum of Nuclear Science & History/Wikipedia
Strictly speaking, radium water is not actually a drug — at the time, radium was considered a "natural element" rather than a pharmaceutical ingredient, nor was it regulated by the FOOD and Drug Administration, and it may be more accurate to say that it is a "health drink". It is also because of regulatory oversight that these radioactive solutions are directly marketed without careful evaluation and can be purchased at will without a prescription.
Radium water was packaged by Bailey as a universal health drink. The advertising brochure claims that the α particles produced by radium decay can "replenish energy" the human body and revitalize the endocrine system, so radium water can treat more than 150 diseases including high blood pressure, anemia, epilepsy, etc. Although there is no scientific basis for this claim, the radium water business quickly flourished — probably because Bailey offered generous kickbacks to doctors who recommended radium water. Between 1925 and 1930, more than 400,000 bottles of radium water were sold around the world.
In the same era, a variety of "radium health products" emerged in an endless stream, and the picture shown is a can of | containing radium bath salts orau.org
Byers met Radium in 1927— the year he accidentally broke his arm and was plagued by chronic pain. At the advice of Dr. Charles Clinton Moyar, Byers began experimenting with radium water.
Radium water seemed to have had a miraculous effect on Byers—at least, he thought so himself. Byers felt rejuvenated and has since become a die-hard fan of Radium. For more than two years, he insisted on drinking radium water every day, drinking a total of 1000-1500 bottles. Not only did he drink it himself, but he also gave radial water to his friends in boxes, and even fed some to his horse racing.
Byers | in the 1920s Wikipedia
However, the beautiful illusion quickly disappeared. In the early 1930s, Byers began to feel something was wrong: he was losing weight and always feeling headaches and toothaches. At first, the private doctor thought he had sinusitis, but then Byers' teeth began to fall out one by one—not a result of sinusitis.
While looking at Byers' X-rays, radiologist Joseph Steiner noticed the problem: lesions in his jawbone and characteristics similar to previously detected cases of radium poisoning. From this point of view, the root of the problem should lie in the radium water that Byers drank.
Figure | Wikipedia
("Radium Girls" is another well-known case of radium poisoning of the same period, in which these women ingested radium during their work applying luminous paint to their watches, which led to necrosis of the jaws.) ）
At the same time, government agencies are beginning to take note of the dangers of radium water. On February 4, 1930, the FDA issued a warning against these radioactive agents, and the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Bailey's Radium Water Company, accusing them of "falsely advertising the efficacy and safety of the product."
Byers finally stopped ingesting radium water, but it was too late: the deposited radium was still wreaking havoc in his body. In September 1931, the FTC wanted Byers to testify at the hearing, but he was too ill to go out. An agent who went to Byers' house to investigate the situation witnessed his tragic situation at that time: after two jaw removals, he was completely disfigured, conscious but barely able to speak; he was wrapped in bandages on his head, and due to osteonecrosis, there were even holes in his skull... In addition to osteonecrosis, Byers developed organ failure, bone marrow lesions, and brain abscesses, and he eventually died on March 31, 1932.
After his death, Byers' remains still showed dangerous radioactivity and needed to be buried in a coffin lined with lead plates. Later analyses show that by the time of Byers' death, the total radiation dose accumulated in his bones exceeded 350 Seawater (Sv). What is the concept of this number? The average of us receives about 2.4 mSieverts of background ionizing radiation each year, and Byers receives more than 140,000 times more radiation through radium.
The rays emitted by Byers' teeth on the sensory plate leave these amazing light-sensitive marks | The Great Radium Scandal, Scientific American
As a celebrity, Byers' tragic death quickly became the headlines, and the incident also marked the end of the "radioactive health product" trend.
In late 1932, the Federal Trade Commission officially closed the Bailey Radium Laboratory. Public health officials are busy removing radium-containing products from shelves, and worried people are turning over their own stocks. Doctors have reported more similar cases of poisoning, and calls for legislation to strictly regulate radium have grown.
However, Bailey, the culprit behind radium, has not been affected much. Throughout the incident, he insisted that Byers' illness had nothing to do with his product: "I drank more radium than anyone else, but I never felt any discomfort." Because the law was not yet perfect, Bailey was not prosecuted for Byers' death.
Radium is dangerously radioactive, but there are not many fatalities caused by the products involved, so it does not immediately arouse alarm – for reasons including price and product fraud. Bailey's radium water is quite expensive, and it is difficult for the average person to afford it, so it is also difficult to consume it in large quantities. Many other "panaceas" sold under the banner of radium are counterfeit products, and the FDA's test results show that most of these products do not contain radium.
In that era, radium-free products also often rubbed the heat of radium, such as this "radium brand butter" | orau.org
When the Radium scandal was in the spotlight, Bailey secretly escaped the public eye. He eventually died of bladder cancer in 1949 at the age of 64 — a miraculous longevity if he had drunk as much radium as he claimed.
Tests conducted in 1968 revealed that Bailey's remains were also heavily radioactive — like the millionaire he had killed.
bibliography
[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/382767
[2] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/382766
[3] https://www.jstor.org/stable/24941583
[4] https://theconversation.com/when-energy-drinks-actually-contained-radioactive-energy-67976
Author: Window knocking rain
Edit: Luna
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