Radium was so popular in the consumer market that many products claimed to be radioactive, even if they weren’t. We still use radioactive sources today, although not radium, to deal with cancer.”Īd for a radium hair treatment from 1924. “Radioactivity, when used properly by someone who knew what they were doing, could cure cancer. “X-rays, another form of radiation, and radium were being used in medicine to treat a variety of diseases,” said Paul Frame, a health physicist at the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, in a phone interview. Medical practitioners found early successes using radium and X-ray imaging, and consumer brands tried to capitalize from radiation therapy’s reputation. Becquerel was credited with its discovery, but the term “radioactivity” itself was coined by Polish-French scientist Marie Curie in 1898, the same year she discovered radium.
When the first radioactive consumer products were launched, in the early 1900s, radioactivity was a brand new field of science.
#Effects of radium treatment full
It’s full range of products all purported to unleash the benefits of radioactivity, including lipstick and facial powder, as well as ointments, soap, suppositories, razor blades, energy drinks and even condoms. The creams didn’t work as advertised but that didn’t stop Tho-Radia cosmetics from becoming popular. But there really wasn’t any science to show that it was true.” Soon after its discovery, radioactive beauty products were hitting the shelves. “There were implications that the energy would help your teeth if they put it in toothpaste and give you a glowing expression if they put it in facial cream. Jorgensen, an associate professor of radiation medicine at Georgetown University, in a phone interview. “Before people started to fear radioactivity, all they seemed to know about it was that it contained energy,” said Timothy J. This mysterious new form of energy, discovered by French physicist Henri Becquerel in 1896, had become imbued with mythical powers. Today, no one would intentionally smear radioactive materials on their face, but in 1933, the dangers of radioactivity were not yet fully understood. It was part of a line of cosmetics called Tho-Radia – after thorium and radium, the radioactive elements it contained. Billed as a “scientific beauty product,” it promised to improve circulation, firm muscle tissue, reduce fat and smooth wrinkles. A miracle cream was launched in Paris in 1933.
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