Radioactive quackery

  Radioactive quackery refers to various products sold during the early 20th century, after the discovery of radioactivity, which promised radioactivity as a cure for various ills. It is now well known that radioactivity can actually be harmful and cause, among other things, cancer.

Notable examples

• Radithor, a solution of radium salts claimed to have curative properties (the industrialist Eben Byers was poisoned by it)
• Many brands of toothpaste were laced with radium that was claimed to make teeth shine whiter
• Bath waters were advertised as being "highly radioactive"
• "Radioactive pens"
• Revigator pots, which added radon to drinking water
• Fluoroscopes used for shoe fitting (really a case of X-ray quackery)

See also

• Electrical quackery
• Snake oil
• Quackery