Radithor and the Era of Mild Radium Therapy
clinical paper · 1990
LINK
SUMMARY
The canonical modern medical-history reconstruction of the Radithor case and the broader 'mild radium therapy' commercial category. Macklis (a Harvard Medical School radiation oncologist) traced the therapeutic ideology, the commercial products, the regulatory response, and the Eben Byers case in detail. The paper integrates archival, biographical, and radiobiological evidence and is the principal scholarly reference cited in modern discussion of the case. Published in *JAMA*'s historical-perspective format with full citations to the primary archival material.
NOTES
The Macklis 1990 JAMA paper is the appropriate citation for any modern evidence-based discussion of Radithor, William J. A. Bailey, and the broader radium-tonic commercial category. The paper traces the rise and fall of ‘mild radium therapy’ from approximately 1910 to the FDA strengthening of the late 1930s, treats Byers’s case as the central exemplar, and integrates archival material from Bailey Radium Laboratories’ commercial records, the FTC investigation, and the contemporary medical-press coverage. The paper is open-access via PubMed Central and JAMA Network.