The end of a businessman who drank a drink containing radioactive radium every day for two years
A Man Drunk So Much Radium His Skull Literally Disintegrated : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-man-drank-so-much-radium-his-skull-literally-disintegrated
Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie succeeded in separating and refining radium from uranite in 1898. Marie Curie did not apply for a patent for the method she discovered to purify radium, so radium was quickly produced throughout Europe.
The most famous application of radium is watches. Radium has the property of emitting a blue-white glow when placed in a dark place, so by painting it on the hands and dial of a clock, you can read the time even in the dark.
by Arma95
Radium is radioactive, so care must be taken when handling it. However, it was in 1902 that a causal relationship between X-rays, a type of radiation, and health damage was demonstrated, and it was not until the 1920s that radiation became generally recognized as dangerous. Therefore, in the early 20th century, there was no recognition that radium was a dangerous substance, and health foods and drinks that claimed to contain radium were sold.
In 1918, self-proclaimed inventor and businessman
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Businessman Eben Byers believed in Radisol and drank it a lot . Byers suffered from arm pain after injuring his arm in 1927 when he fell from the bed of a sleeping car. Charles Clinton Moyer, Byers' personal physician, recommended that he take Radisol.
Byers began drinking three Radisols a day starting in December 1927. Byers believed in Radisol so much that he gave it to friends as well as himself, and even fed it to his horses.
After drinking three bottles of Radisol every day for about two years, Byers' body began to notice noticeable changes. In 1930, Byers' teeth began to fall out and he began to suffer from constant splitting headaches and jaw pain.
Joseph Manning Steiner, the x-ray specialist who diagnosed Byers, argued that Byers' symptoms were similar to those of the 'radium girls.' 'Radium Girls' is a collective term for female factory workers who paint watch parts with radium-containing paint and are suing their employers for radiation poisoning.
Robert Heiner Wynn, a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), interviewed Byers in 1931 and found that Byers, who was only 50 years old at the time, had already lost his entire upper and lower jaw, except for his two front teeth. He reported that he had undergone surgery to remove most of his body and was unable to speak.
Byers died in 1932, and an autopsy revealed that he had a hole in his skull and a tumor in his brain. An estimated 36 micrograms of radium, a lethal dose of 2 micrograms, was detected in Byers' body. Because radiation was detected in Byers' body, he was buried in a lead coffin.
In 1965, more than 30 years after Byers' death, his body was exhumed and analyzed again. As a result, Byers' body was found to contain more than twice the amount of radioactive material estimated. Byers' body was then sealed again in a lead coffin and reburied.
Although Bailey, who sold Radisol, was imprisoned for fraud, he built a huge fortune with products including Radisol and lived a wealthy life until his death in 1949.
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