Radium infused products were a common quack medicine in the early 1900’s. A notorious one was Radithor, from 1918 to the 1930’s.
There were cosmetics, toothpastes, soaps! All your favorite home products. Even a radium infused jockstrap.
Famous ad campaigns,
The craze came to an end when then-famous industrialist Eben Byers developed cancer of the jaw and died after using Radithor for several years, causing bioaccumulation of radium in his bones. Most of his teeth had come out, most of his jaw had to be removed, and other bones in his body were disintegrating.
There was also the famous case of the Radium Dial Painters in the US and Canada, who suffered similar fates after being told to use their mouths to shape camel hair brushes used to paint radium dials. 50 became sick, a dozen died from radiation poisoning.
Undark radium paint,
For sure, the damage over time is an interesting subject. Like lead has a direct exposure effect (IQ loss) but I’m not sure if that passes down to subsequent generations. Maybe though… in epigenetics, there are multi generation effects. Even it doesn’t, there might still be indirect impacts. Like your society makes worse choices for itself on average, and the effects of those choices go on to cause multi generational damage in other ways.
It must’ve been studied a lot by now, but I don’t know much about it.
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