Radium infused products were a common quack medicine in the early 1900’s. A notorious one was Radithor, from 1918 to the 1930’s.

Radithor

There were cosmetics, toothpastes, soaps! All your favorite home products. Even a radium infused jockstrap.

Radium Cosmetics

Famous ad campaigns,

Tho-Radia

The craze came to an end when then-famous industrialist Eben Byers developed cancer of the jaw and died after using Radithor for several years, causing bioaccumulation of radium in his bones. Most of his teeth had come out, most of his jaw had to be removed, and other bones in his body were disintegrating.

There was also the famous case of the Radium Dial Painters in the US and Canada, who suffered similar fates after being told to use their mouths to shape camel hair brushes used to paint radium dials. 50 became sick, a dozen died from radiation poisoning.

Undark radium paint,

Undark

  • EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.caOP
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    2 months ago

    Oh, I see. I wonder if that could’ve been blocked by some filters? When I made the OP I ran across a photo of Eben Byers after his jaw issue, and it was rather… gruesome. I decided against putting it in the post, even with a NSFW marker, but I’m not sure what would have happened if I tried.

    • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      No, it think it may be the instance or my app because I was trying to upload and not embed them.