He Drank 1,400 Vials of Radium. It Ended an Industry. - Video

We'd like to thank Luciteria for the loan of the element samples and the display in today’s episode. To learn more please check them out here: https://www.luciteria.com/ I already own a lot of these.

After its discovery by Marie Curie, the radioactive element radium was incorporated into everything as a “cure all.” The most famous was RADITHOR, a radium-infused tonic that claimed to treat over 150 different ailments. Eben Byers would drink over 1,000 bottles of Radithor in three years. This episode of [HALF-LIFE HISTORIES] explains how Byers’ resulting death would change an entire industry.

SOURCES:
Radium Wikipedia: https://www.nrc.gov/materials/types/radium.html
The Radium Girls book: https://www.amazon.com/Radium-Girls-Story-Americas-Shining/dp/149264935X
Marie Curie Nobel summary: https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/marie-curie
Radithor Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor
“The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His JawCame Off”: https://web.archive.org/web/20170216124222/https://case.edu/affil/MeMA/MCA/11-20/1991-Nov.pdf
Radium “cures”: http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/radium.htm
William Bailey Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._A._Bailey
The Radiendocrinator: https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/radioactive-pads/radiendocrinator.html
Radithor health museum: https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/pills-potions-and-other-miscellany/radithor.html
Radithor PubMed article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2195177/
Eben Byers Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Byers
Eben Byers’ cemetery: https://web.archive.org/web/20160113201140/http://www.alleghenycemetery.com/images/newsletter/newsletter_XIII_1.pdf
The discovery of radioactivity: https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2008/02/becquerel-discovers-radioactivity
Radium Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium
Radium Girls NIH summary: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5595405/
“Hot Bones” journal article: https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/82/21/1667/927947?redirectedFrom=PDF
Radium Girls Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls

00:00 Intro
01:14 The Radium Girl
03:59 The Long Con
07:21 The Cheating of Ebenezer Byers by the Con Man William Bailey
14:15 Radium Jaw
19:07 Hot Bones
22:10 Patreon Names

???? JOIN [THE FACILITY] for members-only live streams, behind-the-scenes posts, and the official Discord: https://www.patreon.com/kylehill

???? NUCLEAR WASTE WARNING MERCH OUT NOW! https://shop.kylehill.net

???? SUB TO THE GAMING CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfTNPE8mXGBZPC1nfVtOJTw

✅ MANDATORY LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, AND TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS

???? FOLLOW ME ON SOCIETY-RUINING SOCIAL MEDIA:
???? https://www.instagram.com/sci_Phile/

????: Kyle
????: Charles Shattuck
????: Kevin Onofreo
✂: Nate Berger
????: @adef
????: @clairemax
????: Thorsten Denk https://www.z1mt.com/
????: @mey
????: bensound.com
????: Mr. Mass https://youtube.com/c/MysteryGiftMovie
????: freesound.org