Eben Byers started drinking radioactive water in 1927 to heal an arm injury, on the advice of his doctor. The product was called Radithor, a patent medicine containing radium dissolved in water, and Byers consumed it regularly for years before it destroyed his bones and killed him. His story is one of the most notorious examples of early 20th-century medical quackery, and it directly shaped the consumer protection laws Americans rely on today.
The Injury That Started It All
Byers was a wealthy Pittsburgh socialite and former U.S. amateur golf champion who served as president of the A.M. Byers Company, one of the world’s largest steel manufacturers. In 1927, he hurt his arm on a party train coming back from a Harvard-Yale football game. His Pittsburgh physician, Dr. C.C. Moyar, recommended he try Radithor to help the healing process.
Radithor was essentially distilled water laced with radium, sold in small glass bottles. It was manufactured by the Bailey Radium Laboratories and marketed as a cure for an astonishing range of ailments. Its maker, William J.A. Bailey, claimed the product could “stimulate functional ability, lower metabolism, correct imperfect nutritional processes and eliminate toxic waste.” Promotional materials suggested it was effective against roughly 100 different diseases, including impotence. Bailey was not a medical doctor but styled himself as one, and his product line leaned on the public’s fascination with radioactivity, which in the 1920s was widely associated with vitality and energy rather than danger.
Why He Kept Drinking It
Byers didn’t just try Radithor once. By most accounts, he drank somewhere between 1,000 and 1,400 bottles over a period of several years. He reportedly felt energized by it and became a vocal enthusiast, even sending cases to friends and business associates. This wasn’t unusual for the era. Radium was an ingredient in dozens of consumer products, from toothpaste to suppositories, and the public had little reason to question it. The science of radiation exposure was still in its infancy, and the few researchers who understood the risks had no regulatory power to pull these products from shelves.
Radithor also cost about a dollar per bottle (roughly $17 today), which put it in the category of a luxury health tonic. Bailey offered a 17% kickback to any physician who prescribed it, giving doctors a financial incentive to recommend the product. Between the physician endorsement, the pseudo-scientific marketing, and the cultural enthusiasm for all things radioactive, Byers had no reason to suspect he was poisoning himself.
What Radium Does Inside the Body
Radium is chemically similar to calcium. When you ingest it, your body treats it like calcium and sends it straight to your bones. Once deposited there, it doesn’t leave. It settles first on bone surfaces and then gradually moves into the bone itself, where it stays for years, continuously emitting radiation that damages surrounding tissue from the inside out. Researchers refer to radium as a “bone seeker” for exactly this reason.
Over time, this internal radiation destroys bone cells faster than the body can replace them. The result is a condition sometimes called “radium jaw” or radium necrosis, in which the bones literally disintegrate. The jaw is particularly vulnerable because it’s a dense, active bone with heavy blood supply, meaning it absorbs a large share of the radium circulating in the bloodstream.
Byers’ Decline and Death
About eighteen months after he began drinking Radithor heavily, Byers started experiencing severe headaches and pain in his jaw. His condition deteriorated rapidly. He underwent two surgeries in which nearly his entire upper jaw (except for two front teeth) and most of his lower jaw were removed. By the time a Federal Trade Commission attorney visited him to take testimony in 1931, Byers’ head was swathed in bandages. The attorney later described the visit as one of the most shocking things he had ever witnessed.
The bone destruction wasn’t limited to his jaw. All the remaining bone tissue in his body was slowly breaking apart, and holes were forming in his skull. Byers died on April 1, 1932, at age 51. His autopsy revealed only six teeth remaining, with both jaws completely rotted through.
When his body was exhumed for study in 1965, more than three decades after his death, researchers found radiation levels roughly eight times the lethal dose of radium still present in his remains. His body continues to be highly radioactive inside its lead-lined coffin.
The Regulatory Fallout
Byers’ death made national headlines and became a turning point for consumer safety in the United States. The Wall Street Journal ran the now-famous headline: “The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off.” The FTC had already begun proceedings against Bailey Radium Laboratories, charging the company with circulating false and misleading statements, including claims that Radithor was the result of 30 years of scientific research, that its radiation was not destructive, and that it possessed genuine therapeutic value.
But there was a deeper legal problem. Under the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, Radithor was technically legal. It was accurately labeled as “radioactive water,” and the old law only required honest labeling. It had no mechanism to ban a product simply because it was dangerous. Byers’ case, alongside other high-profile poisoning incidents of the era, helped build public support for stronger regulation. In 1938, Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which for the first time required all new drugs to be proven safe before they could be sold. It also made it illegal to market drugs or devices that inherently endangered health, regardless of how they were labeled.
William J.A. Bailey, the man who manufactured Radithor, was never criminally prosecuted. He pivoted to selling other radioactive products and died in 1949. When his body was tested, it too was highly radioactive, suggesting he may have actually believed in his own product.