Dangerously radioactive early 20th century products (Article)

Here's an example of how ignorance about a new technology can prove unfortunate and even deadly. Possibly of interest as so many of us have had RT.

The article linked below highlights some of the actual commercial products that were manufactured and sold in the early twentieth century that had, not realized at the time, dangerous levels of radioactive materials in them. And even though their release to the public was well-intentioned, they were products so hazardous that in many cases the public's use of them proved deadly.

There were even things sold like radioactive toothpaste, (!) which were even marketed as promoting good health! (See article).

This was because at the time, as the article says, "… before we understood that radiation exposure can be deadly, people thought it was just a fun ingredient to make things glow."

The result was that some manufacturers in that day saw it as a great new way to promote and sell their products, a new "gimmick," to get the public's attention, and get them to spend their money. The article below describes some of these ventures, showing photos of those unintentionally dangerous products.

Of course in later decades the true danger of having radioactive substances in products consumed by the public eventually came to light, and such products were of course removed, and hopefully it was done as soon as possible, from the market.

This was no doubt encouraged by the discoveries of the cancers and other very serious health issues that had developed and come to be known in the early scientists and researchers who had constantly handled radioactive substances and equipment in their laboratories. (It has been reported, for example, that Madame Curie's notebooks which she kept of her observations are so contaminated with radioactivity that they must be kept in a safety vault).

While looking at pictures of such products today, as the ones illustrated in the article below, may be chilling, and even perhaps a bit morbidly amusing, we need to remember that, at the time back then, no one, not even the scientists of the day, realized just how dangerous they really were.

But the truly chilling thing for us today would be to wonder if there is some equivalent today, some modern technology already out there among us that may at a future time be found to have been a great hazard in current times, but we just didn’t know it.

Let us hope that is not the case, or that at least we have safeguards in place that will catch such things as soon as possible, before they can cause widespread damage.

/io9.gizmodo.com/seriously-scary-radioactive-consumer-products-from-the-498044380

At one time (in my youth), shoe stores had an X-ray device that could be used to see if your (patent leather, of course) shoes fit.

If you have a good radiation meter there are a number of common household items that are measurably radioactive. That uranium glazed fiesta ware is the showiest if you can find it but the mantles for Coleman lanterns are pretty good, too.

And since naturally occurring potassium contains a very small amount of a radioactive isotope, foods high in potassium tend to be slightly (but measurably) radioactive. Oddly enough when the almighty was handing out radioactivity to foods He apparently used an alphabetical list and ran out fairly quickly since the radioactive foodstuffs tend to cluster at the top of the alphabet. Among the top ten radioactive foods are Avocados (number 7), Bananas (number 3), Beef (number 6), Beer (number 8), Brazil Nuts (number 1), Butter Beans (number 2), and Carrots (number 5). That's seven out of ten and we're only up to 'C'. Potatoes, Tap Water, and Peanut Butter round out the top ten in the number 4, 9, and 10 spots, respectively.

If you own a tritium watch, that's pretty radioactive, too, but tritium is a beta emitter and the radiation can't penetrate the tiny glass vials that hold the tritium gas -- nor the case of your watch -- nor your skin.

Just in case we start to become alarmist to some worriers ...
I looked into the Fiestaware Orange dish, and since this has been an issue for some time, some have calculated the risk. I would have needed to eat off that dish every day for decades and never have washed it to get even close to a dangerous level of radiation. I am sure beer, avocados, brazil nuts and the rest are probably well below a long day in the sun (which, yes, gives you a dose of radiation).

Hey, maybe I wasted money on that SRT when I could have just taken the plate to bed with me at night...

I remember reading about the girls in the 1920s that used to paint the watch faces with luminous (radioactive) paint - they would dip the tiny brush in the paint, touch it in their mouth to wet and I suppose shape the brush tip (or vice versa). Lots of cancer incidents with those girls unfortunately.

I was touring a radiation treatment clinic with a group and after visiting the treatment area and the adjoining control room an older member of the group said to me that he had worked in a hospital in his younger days (about 1960 likely) and he recalled the "targeting" of radiation treatment as positioning lead blocks on the patients skin with the exposed area the treatment zone. These lead blocks were quite heavy and the patient was told to hold his breath as long as possible and tense his stomach muscles to avoid moving the lead blocks, and also to prevent the lead from restricting his breathing.

Modern radiation is a miracle but I predict in one hundred years humans will wonder how we thought radiation treatments were valuable since we knew so much about their dangers, just as we cannot understand how earlier ages believed in witchcraft and then later radioactive underwear.

My dear departed mother was a Radiation Chemist for 35 years.
Early in her career she worked at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee(where the USG developed bombs).

She thought the risk from radon was over blown. A risk, but just not as bad as it was being portrayed.

The two most common sources of radioactivity on Earth are uranium (Fiestaware) and thorium (gas mantles), which are mostly alpha-emitters. Alpha particles are easily stopped by the skin. They both have half-lives of billions of years, so they are only very mildly radioactive. Neither poses much health risk from casual external exposure. However, they both have impurities. Radium 226 is the primary decay product of U238 (the most common uranium isotope) and, although primarily an alpha emitter, also emits ionizing radiation and decays to radon gas that may be breathed in. The biggest danger of alpha emitters arises from being ingested or inhaled. So eating from Fiestaware may be hazardous.The one that made the news was polonium 210, used to murder Alexander Litvinenko. It's a very powerful alpha-emitter that poses no danger, except as an ingested poison.