Radium & Radon

Radium Water Baths in Nowata Oklahoma. It seems that at some point (before the effects of radio activity were well known), the locals discovered that they could make water glow by putting radium in it. They opened a spa where people could pay money to come sit in a glowing pool of toxic waste. It was considered therapeutic. During the 1930s it was found that worker exposure to radium by handling luminescent paints caused serious health effects which included sores, anemia and bone cancer. This use of radium was stopped soon afterward. This is because radium is treated as calcium by the body, and deposited in the bones, where radioactivity degrades marrow, and can mutate bone cells. Handling of radium has since been blamed for Marie Curie's premature death.

Radon was a popular additive in products like toothpaste, hair creams and even food items in the early 20th century, due to its supposed curative powers. Radon was subsequently removed when its carcinogenic properties were discovered. However, there are still radon baths and hot springs in Austria, Germany and Japan. These baths promote radon by saying that it cures illnesses like hypertension and hemorrhoids. There are similar radon treatment centers in the U.S. and elsewhere which are usually billed as 'health centers', though the health benefits of low-levels of radiation are seen as dubious, at best, by most radiologists.