Daily oral consumption of Radithor will cure or substantially relieve more than 150 conditions, including dyspepsia, hypertension, impotence, lassitude, rheumatism, and other endocrinologic and metabolic complaints, through the stimulating action of dissolved radium-226 and radium-228 on the endocrine system.
The general-cure claim is the marketing-facing assertion of Bailey Radium Laboratories. The claim rests on patient self-report, cooperating-physician testimonials, and Bailey’s own marketing copy. There is no controlled outcome data anywhere in the Radithor record. The claim is refuted by the medical reality of skeletal radium deposition and progressive osteonecrosis: the product is fatal at recommended doses (≥1 bottle/day over 1-3 years), as Eben Byers’s case directly demonstrated. The 19 December 1931 FTC cease-and-desist order specifically required Bailey to cease representations of therapeutic value.
Appears in
Sources
- Radithor and the Era of Mild Radium Therapy — Macklis, Roger M. 'Radithor and the Era of Mild Radium Therapy.' *Journal of the American Medical Association* (JAMA) 264:5 (1 August 1990), pp. 614-618. PubMed: 2195177.