Radium water - radiant energy with a fatal outcome

The substance was manufactured by Bailey Radium Laboratories, Inc. in East Orange, New Jersey from the mid-1920s to 1931 and was advertised as a "cure for the living dead" and "eternal sunshine". According to the manufacturer, Radithor was supposed to have a healing effect on various illnesses and provide the human body with new energy.

Despite its relatively high price, Radithor became particularly popular among the financially stronger sections of the population, with the result that the company sold over 400,000 small bottles of its product as "certified radium water". Doctors who prescribed Radithor even received a hidden commission.

It was only when the US athlete Eben Byers, who had consumed around 1,400 vials of Radithor on his doctor's recommendation, fell seriously ill and lost teeth and large parts of his lower jaw that doubts arose about the healing effect of Radithor and other radium waters. Public opinion turned in the United States when Eben Byers died in agony in 1932.

The company Bailey Radium Laboratories had already stopped producing Radithor a year earlier - after the first press reports about Eben Byers' illness. The manufacturer was not held accountable for the radiation damage.