April 9, 2024 • 32 mins
William Bailey called himself a doctor, but his career was as a shady businessman, not a medical professional. In the early 20th century, he launched a series of start-up companies, capitalizing on the new discoveries of radioactive elements, and sold patent medicine products with lethal radioactive substances with unproven promises to cure everything from arthritis to impotence – it was said they could help you regain your youth. But instead, they were deadly.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
When financial hardship caused William John Aluisius Bailey to drop
out of Harvard University before finishing his degree, it didn't
stop him from awarding himself a degree anyway, a medical degree,
and he called himself doctor William Bailey, but the press
in the public considered him a quote scholarly looking man
(00:35):
and didn't really seem to care so much about his
credentials in his professional life. Many believed the promises he
made about his patent medicines regardless of his diploma, but
they should have cared, as his patent medicines could and
would literally eat holes in your bones and ravage your
body with cancer, and Bailey just kept the products rolling
off the line for years as his patients suffered. So
(00:58):
this one is a real villain story. Welcome to Criminalia.
I'm Marian tro Markin and I'm Holly Frye. William Bailey's
career was as a shady businessman, not a medical professional,
and between roughly nineteen oh six in the late nineteen thirties,
he launched a series of startup companies some of which
(01:19):
made him wealthy, but none of which managed to operate
for more than a few years. New discoveries of radioactive
elements created a patent medicine craze that Bailey capitalized on.
Products with lethal radioactive substances were sold with unproven promises
to cure everything from arthritis to impotence. It was said
(01:40):
they could help you regain your youth. Patent medicine wasn't
his first corporate venture. He didn't start in radioactive products.
But the first sleazy business endeavor that led him into
trouble was this. In nineteen twelve, Bailey was in the
automotive business sort of, and his company, the Carnegie Engineering Corporation,
(02:04):
claimed to be selling a newly designed automobile with the
price tag of approximately six hundred dollars. For perspective on that,
prices for Henry Ford's nineteen twelve Model T touring car
started at six hundred and ninety dollars. Bailey received some
fifteen hundred orders and presumably that many deposits too. It
was fifty dollars to get your name on the waiting list.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
What got Bailey in.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Trouble with federal authorities wasn't his use of the name Carnegie,
though it waves like a giant red flag as the
American industrialist had nothing to do with this company, but
instead it was his inadequate production capacity. And they were right.
His factory was really just an abandoned sawmill that contained
(02:49):
nothing more than a single box of tools, and that
for sure is not how cars were built. In nineteen twelve,
as reported in the May eighth, nineteen fifteen edition of
The New York Times, Bailey was arrested for this. He
was found guilty and was fined and sentenced to thirty
days in prison.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
At the time of his arrest, he was also president
and treasurer of another startup, the American Hardware and Machinery
Export Corporation, But after his release from prison, he set
out to conquer the world of patent medicines, specifically radioactive
patent medicines, which may have been inspired by physicist and
chemist Marie Currie's pioneering research on radiation and her visit
(03:31):
with United States President Harding in May of nineteen twenty one.
That is conjecture on our behalf, but her work does
line up with the radium trend and with Bailey's new
business plans, and we'll talk a little bit more about
her later in the episode.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So a few years earlier, a nineteen thirteen article in
the Lancet Medical Journal noted that radium water did seem
to boost the libido of newts yes the Amphibian, though
there was no proof of that still. One of Bailey's
earliest patent medicine products was called Lasico for superb manhood,
(04:08):
an alleged cure from male impotence, which got him fined
in nineteen eighteen by a Chicago court for exploiting a
quote quack aphrodisiac.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
By nineteen twenty two, Bailey had launched another new company
called Associated Radium Chemists, operating out of New York City.
Arium The company's signature product appears to first show up
in a newspaper advertisement from November of nineteen twenty two.
It was sold in a tin container, and that container
held forty two tablets of quote genuine radium, and it
(04:43):
costs only a dollar, which is roughly twenty dollars a
ten today. According to instructions on the label, one should
quote take two tablets with glass of water before or
after each meal to derive the most beneficial effects. Arium
should be taken regularly as directed. Arium was marketed as
(05:04):
an aphrodisiac, but associated radium. Chemists also produced other items,
including linarium, which was a liniment, ointarium which was an ointment,
dentarium which was a toothpaste cap, aarium, a hair tonic
dax for soothing coughs, and claques for treating influenza.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
An advertorial in the Zanesville Signal on December second, nineteen
twenty six, claimed quote, recent investigation shows that the pep energy, endurance,
and nerve force of the average man past forty may
often be increased by one hundred percent by getting into
his system the marvelous restorative radium power of aarium.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Another advertisement for arium, printed in the Newark, Ohio Advocate
on February sixteenth, nineteen twenty three, stated quote, is rheumatism
dragging you into old age? How radium reduces it, inflammation, relieves pain,
and renews the energy and vigor of use. Ariam now
recommended by leading physicians as the new harmless way to
(06:08):
obtain radium for internal use. Five thousand dollars reward if
they fail, foreshadowing aside that five thousand dollars reward should
have gone to anyone who lived through trying arium to
cure anything. Consumers, though, loved this product. Of many positive
testimonials was this one from Reverend H. McKenna in nineteen
(06:31):
twenty five, who, after taking Ariam tablets, stated quote, I
feel like a kid. Bailey's patent medicine business was off
with a bang.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
While Reverend McKenna may have felt like a kid again
when he took Ariam tablets, he didn't know he was
playing with poison. We're going to take a break for
a word from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll
talk about whether or not William Bailey's radium infused products
were or were not good for your health.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about William Bailey's companies
and his two most popular products, the radiendocrenator device and
his Ratathor elixir.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Shortly after launching Associated radium Chemists, Bailey founded another company,
American Endocrine Laboratories, which occupied several different locations across New
York City between the early nineteen twenties and nineteen thirty,
when it closed its doors. Its flagship product was called
the radio Endocrinator, and it was according to company marketing
(07:45):
materials quote the last word in scientific manufacture. The product
was housed in a case called the adapter and was
intended to be worn against your skin. The radioactive source
inside the adapter consisted of seven then give or take,
radium soaked blotterlike pieces of paper, each one the size
of a credit card. Each was covered with a thin
(08:07):
piece of plastic and two gold wire screens.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Users were encouraged to wear it wherever and whenever, at home,
at work, it didn't matter. Promotional booklets and materials showed
both men and women wearing nothing but their radiendocrinator strapped
to their head, their neck, back, among other places on
the body. It's intended, and we should say alleged health
(08:33):
benefits came from irradiating the endocrine glands, which quote have
so masterful of control over life and bodily health. As
for one very cringe inducing example of its use, men
were advised as follows quote mail, place radiendocrenator in the
pocket of this adapter, with the window upward toward the
(08:55):
body where adapter, like any athletic, strap the cloth label
in the front. This puts the instrument under the scrotum
as it should be where at night Radi eight as directed.
This terrifying device sold for one hundred and fifty dollars,
which might seem very high, although it was initially priced
(09:16):
at one thousand.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Coincidentally, when American Endocrine Laboratories first opened, it occupied space
in the same building as Vitamin Corporation, which was owned
by doctor Hermann Ruben, who hawked a product called Maston's
Vitamin Health Tablets. Ruben's relationship with Bailey and American Endocrine
Laboratories is not completely clear, though it is clear there
(09:42):
was one. A nineteen twenty four newspaper advertorial featuring Bailey
included a photograph of Rubens standing next to a radiendocrinator.
It was egg shaped and about the size of a
football and mounted on a stand. Other articles would follow
and included similar photos of the men.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
The earliest reference to the radio indocrinator and to American
Endocrine Laboratories is in a booklet that came out in
nineteen twenty three. That same year, Rubin published two books,
each mentioning the device. One was Scientific Rejuvenation Without Operation
and the other was The New Science of Endochronology in
its relation to rejuvenation American Endocrine Laboratories marketed and distributed
(10:26):
them both, plus a third book titled Your Mysterious Glands,
How Your Glands Control Your mental and physical development and
Moral Welfare that was published a few years later.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Rubenaugh denied that he held any interest in Bailey's company, and
also denied he sold the radio indocrenator, but he did
admit he used the device on patients in his medical practice,
and admitted that when he prescribed it to patients, he
did so through a company called Raticent Endocrine Laboratories, and
he called the product the Rootcronator, and so yes, if
(11:03):
it looks like a duck and it wacks like a duck,
then it is probably a duck. The endocrinator was just
another name for the radi endocarnator, and Radison Endocrine Laboratories
was another name used by American Endocrine Laboratories. So technically
he didn't sell the radi endocrenator. But who did he
(11:24):
think he was fooling? A bit of a spoiler about
the guy. Because of Reuben's business interests in sketchy health
products and devices, he was expelled from the medical societies
of the State of New York and the County of
New York in March of nineteen twenty four, and in
nineteen twenty six, Ratison Endocrine Laboratories changed their name to
(11:45):
US Gamma Laboratories. Guys, we see you.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Some historians believe that Ruben and not Bailey, may have
actually been the one who invented the radiandocrenator, sometimes referred
to as the clinic type radi indocrenator. The problem with
this version of the instrument was that it couldn't be
mass produced and sold to the public because it was big.
Remember we mentioned a moment ago it was the size
of a football. So either Reuben or Bailey, and it
(12:14):
is not clear which created what became known as the standard,
smaller version of the device, described at the time as quoted,
the newest type of radiu indocrenator for home use is
a very small device and comes together with adapters for
attaching it to body.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Bailey left American Endocrine Laboratories probably in the mid nineteen
twenties ish when he began focusing on his newest patent
medicine called Ratathor the elixir would become his most famous
and infamous product. He manufactured it at the New Bailey
Radium Laboratories in East Orange, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Ratathor consisted of only a few ingredients, but they were
very potent ingredients. Give ingredients were radium, specifically the radium
two twenty six and two twenty eight isotopes, as well
as the radioactive element mesothorium. The rest just some otherwise
harmless distilled water. This was marketed as a cure for asthma, constipation,
(13:17):
low libido, diabetes, mental illness, and one hundred and forty
five other ailments, and it worked by quote exciting the
endocrine system into battling its afflictions, and one marketing campaign
offered one thousand dollars to anyone who tried it and
didn't think it was great. And no one ever claimed
that reward.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
But they should have, because if they lived to tell
about it, it was a miracle. Today this product is
considered one of the very first quote unquote energy drinks,
but it's also one of the most well known examples
of radioactive quackery. But in the nineteen twenties, for thirty dollars,
you could, with no warning label in sight, purchase a
(13:58):
case of twenty four to two ounds bottles for perspective,
that's upwards of five hundred dollars a case in today's money.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Bailey had his hands in a lot of things, though
in nineteen twenty four. In nineteen twenty five, he was
also president of the Thorwn Company, located in New York City.
The company specialized in thorium pharmaceutical preparations and marketing materials.
Promised that they sold quote internal sunshine. That was their
(14:27):
euphemism for claiming they cured male impotence. Thorium is a
naturally occurring radioactive metal, and today it is a known carcinogen.
An example of one advertisement from nineteen twenty five featured
a muscular, confident and shirtless man and claimed quote amazing
earth power builds vigorous man power.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
All his good fortune changed. In June of nineteen twenty six.
He may have been focused on ratathor, but federal authorities
were focused on well him. The United States Attorney for
the District of Maryland filed an order for the quote
seizure and condemnation of fifty six packages and one hundred
and thirty five boxes of arium tablets shipped from New
(15:12):
York by Associated radium chemists, stating that the company's claims
quote regarding the curative and therapeutic effects of said article
were false and fraudulent. The court case became known as
the United States versus fifty six packages of Arium tablets.
When the United States Department of Agriculture analyzed the seized arium,
(15:34):
they found that the tablets were actually composed of mainly
lithium carbonate, starch, and talc, and each contained eight point
five eight nanoquieries of radium.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Also in June of nineteen twenty six, the United States
attorneys for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the District
of Connecticut filed similar orders for the seizure and condemnation
of additional packages of areum tablets. These seized packages of
tablets shipped in February and July of nineteen twenty seven
from New York to Tacoma, Washington. A subsequent analysis showed
(16:11):
that arium's content had changed slightly. These tablets contained a
different amount of radium two point six nanacuries each, and
strychnine had been added to the ingredients. Bailey closed down
associated radium chemists and moved on. He played very fast
and loose with company and product names that by the
(16:32):
early nineteen thirties, he was running three different companies that
sold radioactive products to the public. Like Bailey Radium Laboratories,
These three new companies were all based in East Orange,
New Jersey, Adrenay Company, Bioay Company, and Thorinator Company. None
of the three survived very long, and although Bailey blamed
(16:54):
their failure on the effects of the Greek Depression, it
was really his ongoing trouble with federal authority that was
the cause of their demise.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It was a high profile radiation poisoning and subsequent death
from Ratathor consumption that led to measures that would end
Bailey's radium rain and strengthen the Food and Drug Administration's
powers and oversight. Because the FDA was still very new,
it was still quite weak, and the investigation into Ratithor
(17:23):
and William Bailey was handed over to the Federal Trade Commission,
a group that had more power. This was a nail
in the coffin for bunk radioactive so called cures.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Here's the thing about radium. It was discovered by Marie
and per Curie in eighteen ninety eight, and it is
a naturally occurring silvery white radioactive metal that's formed when
uranium and thorium, which are two other natural radioactive substances,
decay in the environment. Radium glows blue green in the dark,
(17:55):
and it gives off light for years without any apparent
power source. Because of its chemical similarity to calcium, radium
behaves chemically like calcium. When it's in the human body.
That's bad because it replaces the calcium in your bones.
It is known as a quote bone seeker. Rather than
passing through the body, it leaves behind radium deposits, and
(18:18):
those deposits destroy blood cells, bone marrow, and other tissue.
Depending on your level of exposure, it can cause everything
from anemia, hair loss, cataracts, broken or loose teeth, impairment
of the body's functioning of tissues and its organs, and
an overwhelming increased risk of cancer. Radium can be lethal.
(18:40):
In fact, Marie Currey highlighted that the effects of radiation
on the human body were not well understood at the time,
and she never condoned its use in things that people
might eat or drink. In nineteen thirty four, she died
of aplastic anemia caused by radiation poisoning. Because of her
groundbreaking work.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
When Ratathor hit the market, it was already known that
radium was dangerous, although it's unclear whether the public understood
that it could be lethal. In nineteen thirteen, five years
before Bailey sold his Lassico for superb Manhood product, British
scientist Walter Lazarus Barlow published a study correctly noting that
(19:21):
ingested radium accumulates in the bones, and in nineteen fourteen,
Professor Ernst Zublin, a medical professor at the University of Maryland,
warned of its dangers to the body in a published
review of seven hundred medical reports, many of which showed
that bone necrosis and ulcerations were a frequent side effect
from ingesting radium. Despite their work, Ratithor sales remained strong
(19:44):
through the nineteen twenties. According to a two thousand and
seven report published in the Journal of Radiologic Protection, we
now know that when radium is taken internally, the poisoning
can be fatal within one month.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our Sponenzers, and when we're back we will talk
about a man named Eben Byers who died a horrific
and tragic death because of his continued consumption of radium
infused water.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's meet Evan Byers, a popular
industrialist slash playboy of the nineteen twenties.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Eben Byers died from his consumption of Ratathor. He was
a Pittsburgh industrialist. He was suave, He was popular. He
was also an amateur golfer with promise. He won the
US Amateur Golf Championship in nineteen oh six. It was
in nineteen twenty seven, after an arm injury just wouldn't
heal properly and was spoiling his golf game, that his
(20:56):
physician suggested that he tried Bailey's Ratithor. Doctor Moyer, who
prescribed the drink for buyers, insisted to federal authorities when
later questioned that it was not harmful, stating quote, I
never had a death among my patients for radium treatment.
I have taken as much or more radium water of
the same kind mister Byers took, and I am fifty
(21:18):
one years old, active and healthy. I believe that radium
water has a definite place in the treatment of certain diseases,
and I prescribe when I deem it necessary.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Byers was a well known guy, and his illness and
death caused an inquiry into radioactive patent medicines like Ratithor.
Federal authorities had some suspicions about the safety of the
product before Buyer's death, and Federal Trade Commission lawyer Robert
Heiner Wynn had been dispatched to interview him. Of that interview,
(21:51):
which took place shortly before Buyers died, when described him
as quote young in years and mentally alert, He could
hardly speak. His head was swathened bandages. He had undergone
two successive operations in which his whole upper jaw, excepting
two front teeth, and most of his lower jaw, had
been removed. All the remaining bone tissue of his body
(22:14):
was slowly disintegrating and holes were actually forming in his skull.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Timothy J. Jorgensen, a professor in the Department of Radiation
Medicine at Georgetown University, stated about Buyers in an article
for The Conversation that quote, although the product contained no narcotics,
he became at least psychologically, if not physiologically, addicted to it.
He continued to consume large amounts of Ratathor even after
(22:43):
his arm had healed In fact, Buyers was so pro
ratathor that he gifted cases of it to friends. He
was a huge fan, and he even had it given
to his race horses. But then things took a turn
for the worse. By lost a considerable amount of weight
and began having headaches, and then began to suffer bone
(23:05):
necrosis in his jaw, which caused him to lose several teeth.
Radium jaw was a real thing. The condition caused dental pain,
loose teeth, lesions, and ulcers, and the failure of tooth
extractions to heal. A Wall Street Journal headlined bluntly stated
quote the radium water worked fine until his jaw came off.
(23:27):
All the radium that Buyers had consumed had accumulated in
his bones and caused his death in March of nineteen
thirty two. He was fifty one.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
When Evan Byers died from using the product. His physician,
doctor Mayer, claimed he quote knew that his patient had
really died from quote a combination of blood diseases which
had induced gout. And autopsy, though did not agree with
Moyer's conclusion. It was discovered that Buyers had an abscess
(23:57):
on his brain. All but six of his teeth had
fallen out, and his body contained more than three and
a half times the lethal amount of radium. When he died.
He was buried in a lead lined coffin. Normally, that's
to help keep out moisture and preserve the body for
longer and prevent odors and toxins from escaping. In this case,
(24:17):
it was specifically to block the radiation being released from
the bones in his body. Radium has a half life
of sixteen hundred years, so Buyer's bones have virtually the
same amount of radium in them now as they did
the day he died.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Bailey absolved himself in Buyer's death by stating he only
provided ratathor to patients on a doctor's prescription. One such practitioner,
doctor CG. Davis, was very pro radium and had written
glowing things no pun intended about it in the American
Journal of Clinical Medicine, including that quote radioactivity prevents insanity,
(24:56):
rouses noble emotions, retards old age, and creates a splendid, youthful,
joyous life. At least six other physicians, according to Federal
Trade Commission's investigation Information, prescribed ratithor and stated that none
of their patients had died.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Radium infused drinks were removed from the market in December
of nineteen thirty one, just three months before buyer's death
from them. Ultimately, in the interest of protecting public health,
the FTC closed down the Bailey Radium laboratories, but after
the federal investigation, Bailey carried on. In nineteen thirty seven,
he became a partner in lee Caalpadine Company of New
(25:36):
York City. Their sole product consisted of calpidine tablets made
of compressed pelletized seaweed. That's right, there was nothing radioactive
about this one. Marketing claims, though, were totally sketched, and
promised that the tablets could treat thirty two specific diseases.
And because of those outrageous promises that couldn't be backed up,
(25:58):
he ran up against the FDA's mission and to crack
down on such false claims. This was likely the final
patent medicine Bailey marketed to the public.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
In the end, Bailey died a wealthy man, suffering no
consequence from the deadly effects of his snake oil products,
while no serious or significant legal consequence. That is, he
once said of his ratithor and its safety. Quote, I
have drunk more radium water than any man alive, and
I have never suffered any ill effects. But that too,
(26:31):
was not the truth. He died in May of nineteen
forty nine at the age of sixty four of bladder cancer.
Twenty years later, when his body was exhumed and tested
for radioactive isotopes, Geiger counters found his body had been
quote ravaged by radiation, and because of that half life,
(26:51):
he still is.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
There's no cure for what ails this, But what.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Do you have for us? No, there isn't, And in fact,
that's kind of what inspires this drink. A few different
things inspired this drink. One, of course, from a visual standpoint,
I love the idea of radium being this kind of cloudy,
silvery white and glowing greenish at night. Of course, there's
(27:22):
going to be some fun color in this one. But
the other thing that struck me about the story is
just the damn denial that people would be in and
be like, no, that's not that thing that I gave
that guy. That's poison. That's no way, that's not the
problem at all. We're calling it radium denial. It has
nothing dangerous in it. If you're allergic to alcohol, or
(27:45):
if you drink too much, please drink responsibly. Anything can
be problematic if you have too much of it, even water.
But we're hoping that our listeners are a little bit
more judicious than that. And this is a really easy
one to put together. You want a very very cold,
pre chilled martini glass. Normally I don't care what glass
you use, but this one, I really think like a
(28:06):
pointy martini glass is gonna look the best. And you'll
see why. There is a visual element to this. You
are gonna put into your shaker, so simple, a half
ounce of lime juice, a half ounce of orja, or
a regular almond syrup. I will caveat this one and say,
book for an almond syrup that has that like silvery
(28:28):
slightly milky look to it. And then you're just gonna
do an ounce and a half of gin and you're
gonna shake this with ice and then strain it into
your pre chilled glass. And then you are gonna take
a half ounce of midori and you're gonna very slowly
and carefully pour it over a spoon down on one
(28:49):
of the side edges of your glass. It won't all
sink to the bottom, but some of it will some
of it is gonna color your drink, and it ends
up giving it this really fun green glow that kind
of comes from below. Here's the thing. I also had
an accident one where it did it just mixed itself
really fast, and even that green was quite beautiful and glowy.
(29:12):
So it still has an effect of the visual, but
that would also be for presentation only when you serve it.
If the green is on the bottom, make clear to
whoever is drinking it that they're going to want to
swizzle it up before they actually take a sip. This
is a really yummy drink for me. I will say
I made a complete disaster version earlier that I didn't
care to speak on beyond acknowledging that it happened. But
(29:33):
this one turned out beautifully and was a relief where
I was like, oh, my goodness, have I lost my
sense of like how things could go together? And I
don't know what happened on the first one happened. I
just lost my mind.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
It happened.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I tried too much, and a lot of flavors gotten
in argument. I will put it that way.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
It seems like a very simple drink now it is.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
It's very simple. It's super easy. If this is one
of those ones that if it is too potent for
you in its martini form, you can add a little
club soda to it. You could even add a little
tonic to it, and you essentially get like a gin
and tonic with a honeydew note, which is quite lovely.
I think there are some drinks like that already that
(30:11):
are called like a Japanese gin and tonic or a
Japanese tonic. It's delicious. The mocktail on this one is
pretty simple. We have talked about before, subbing out gin
for a flat tonic, and I stand by it for
this one. And then your orja and your lime juice
are the same. And then in lieu of madori a
honeydew syrup. And in case people don't remember, that's easy
(30:33):
to make. Just chop up some honeydew and boil it
with a cup of water and a cup of sugar,
and let that boil for a little while, and then
strain it and keep that boiled sweet candied honeydew and
put it on ice cream, your toast or whatever, or
just eat it with a spoon like I do, because
you cannot control your childlike some That is the radium denial,
(30:56):
which contains no radioactive ingredients and is in fact yummy.
And I want to raise it in honor of poor
Eben who lost his life to.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Quackery what he thought was a health drink.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
This is a problem always, it continues. There a lot
of issues going on regarding what substances are and are
not monitored by the FDA. And so just for our listeners,
you're all bright, bright people, I know, but always be
a little careful. When people over promise things to sound miraculous,
it's probably not really going to be what they say
(31:33):
it is. But I can promise you that the radium
denial is very delicious. It's not going to cure anything,
but it might put a smile on your face, and
really that's all I can ask for it.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Sometimes that's a cure.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
It does have restorative properties. In that room, we are
so grateful that you've spent this time with us today
and we hope we will see you right back here
next week at Criminalia, where there will be more snake
oil and a little more of the cures. What a
(32:06):
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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
When financial hardship caused William John Aluisius Bailey to drop
out of Harvard University before finishing his degree, it didn't
stop him from awarding himself a degree anyway, a medical degree,
and he called himself doctor William Bailey, but the press
in the public considered him a quote scholarly looking man
(00:35):
and didn't really seem to care so much about his
credentials in his professional life. Many believed the promises he
made about his patent medicines regardless of his diploma, but
they should have cared, as his patent medicines could and
would literally eat holes in your bones and ravage your
body with cancer, and Bailey just kept the products rolling
off the line for years as his patients suffered. So
(00:58):
this one is a real villain story. Welcome to Criminalia.
I'm Marian tro Markin and I'm Holly Frye. William Bailey's
career was as a shady businessman, not a medical professional,
and between roughly nineteen oh six in the late nineteen thirties,
he launched a series of startup companies some of which
(01:19):
made him wealthy, but none of which managed to operate
for more than a few years. New discoveries of radioactive
elements created a patent medicine craze that Bailey capitalized on.
Products with lethal radioactive substances were sold with unproven promises
to cure everything from arthritis to impotence. It was said
(01:40):
they could help you regain your youth. Patent medicine wasn't
his first corporate venture. He didn't start in radioactive products.
But the first sleazy business endeavor that led him into
trouble was this. In nineteen twelve, Bailey was in the
automotive business sort of, and his company, the Carnegie Engineering Corporation,
(02:04):
claimed to be selling a newly designed automobile with the
price tag of approximately six hundred dollars. For perspective on that,
prices for Henry Ford's nineteen twelve Model T touring car
started at six hundred and ninety dollars. Bailey received some
fifteen hundred orders and presumably that many deposits too. It
was fifty dollars to get your name on the waiting list.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
What got Bailey in.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Trouble with federal authorities wasn't his use of the name Carnegie,
though it waves like a giant red flag as the
American industrialist had nothing to do with this company, but
instead it was his inadequate production capacity. And they were right.
His factory was really just an abandoned sawmill that contained
(02:49):
nothing more than a single box of tools, and that
for sure is not how cars were built. In nineteen twelve,
as reported in the May eighth, nineteen fifteen edition of
The New York Times, Bailey was arrested for this. He
was found guilty and was fined and sentenced to thirty
days in prison.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
At the time of his arrest, he was also president
and treasurer of another startup, the American Hardware and Machinery
Export Corporation, But after his release from prison, he set
out to conquer the world of patent medicines, specifically radioactive
patent medicines, which may have been inspired by physicist and
chemist Marie Currie's pioneering research on radiation and her visit
(03:31):
with United States President Harding in May of nineteen twenty one.
That is conjecture on our behalf, but her work does
line up with the radium trend and with Bailey's new
business plans, and we'll talk a little bit more about
her later in the episode.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
So a few years earlier, a nineteen thirteen article in
the Lancet Medical Journal noted that radium water did seem
to boost the libido of newts yes the Amphibian, though
there was no proof of that still. One of Bailey's
earliest patent medicine products was called Lasico for superb manhood,
(04:08):
an alleged cure from male impotence, which got him fined
in nineteen eighteen by a Chicago court for exploiting a
quote quack aphrodisiac.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
By nineteen twenty two, Bailey had launched another new company
called Associated Radium Chemists, operating out of New York City.
Arium The company's signature product appears to first show up
in a newspaper advertisement from November of nineteen twenty two.
It was sold in a tin container, and that container
held forty two tablets of quote genuine radium, and it
(04:43):
costs only a dollar, which is roughly twenty dollars a
ten today. According to instructions on the label, one should
quote take two tablets with glass of water before or
after each meal to derive the most beneficial effects. Arium
should be taken regularly as directed. Arium was marketed as
(05:04):
an aphrodisiac, but associated radium. Chemists also produced other items,
including linarium, which was a liniment, ointarium which was an ointment,
dentarium which was a toothpaste cap, aarium, a hair tonic
dax for soothing coughs, and claques for treating influenza.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
An advertorial in the Zanesville Signal on December second, nineteen
twenty six, claimed quote, recent investigation shows that the pep energy, endurance,
and nerve force of the average man past forty may
often be increased by one hundred percent by getting into
his system the marvelous restorative radium power of aarium.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Another advertisement for arium, printed in the Newark, Ohio Advocate
on February sixteenth, nineteen twenty three, stated quote, is rheumatism
dragging you into old age? How radium reduces it, inflammation, relieves pain,
and renews the energy and vigor of use. Ariam now
recommended by leading physicians as the new harmless way to
(06:08):
obtain radium for internal use. Five thousand dollars reward if
they fail, foreshadowing aside that five thousand dollars reward should
have gone to anyone who lived through trying arium to
cure anything. Consumers, though, loved this product. Of many positive
testimonials was this one from Reverend H. McKenna in nineteen
(06:31):
twenty five, who, after taking Ariam tablets, stated quote, I
feel like a kid. Bailey's patent medicine business was off
with a bang.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
While Reverend McKenna may have felt like a kid again
when he took Ariam tablets, he didn't know he was
playing with poison. We're going to take a break for
a word from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll
talk about whether or not William Bailey's radium infused products
were or were not good for your health.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about William Bailey's companies
and his two most popular products, the radiendocrenator device and
his Ratathor elixir.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Shortly after launching Associated radium Chemists, Bailey founded another company,
American Endocrine Laboratories, which occupied several different locations across New
York City between the early nineteen twenties and nineteen thirty,
when it closed its doors. Its flagship product was called
the radio Endocrinator, and it was according to company marketing
(07:45):
materials quote the last word in scientific manufacture. The product
was housed in a case called the adapter and was
intended to be worn against your skin. The radioactive source
inside the adapter consisted of seven then give or take,
radium soaked blotterlike pieces of paper, each one the size
of a credit card. Each was covered with a thin
(08:07):
piece of plastic and two gold wire screens.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Users were encouraged to wear it wherever and whenever, at home,
at work, it didn't matter. Promotional booklets and materials showed
both men and women wearing nothing but their radiendocrinator strapped
to their head, their neck, back, among other places on
the body. It's intended, and we should say alleged health
(08:33):
benefits came from irradiating the endocrine glands, which quote have
so masterful of control over life and bodily health. As
for one very cringe inducing example of its use, men
were advised as follows quote mail, place radiendocrenator in the
pocket of this adapter, with the window upward toward the
(08:55):
body where adapter, like any athletic, strap the cloth label
in the front. This puts the instrument under the scrotum
as it should be where at night Radi eight as directed.
This terrifying device sold for one hundred and fifty dollars,
which might seem very high, although it was initially priced
(09:16):
at one thousand.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Coincidentally, when American Endocrine Laboratories first opened, it occupied space
in the same building as Vitamin Corporation, which was owned
by doctor Hermann Ruben, who hawked a product called Maston's
Vitamin Health Tablets. Ruben's relationship with Bailey and American Endocrine
Laboratories is not completely clear, though it is clear there
(09:42):
was one. A nineteen twenty four newspaper advertorial featuring Bailey
included a photograph of Rubens standing next to a radiendocrinator.
It was egg shaped and about the size of a
football and mounted on a stand. Other articles would follow
and included similar photos of the men.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
The earliest reference to the radio indocrinator and to American
Endocrine Laboratories is in a booklet that came out in
nineteen twenty three. That same year, Rubin published two books,
each mentioning the device. One was Scientific Rejuvenation Without Operation
and the other was The New Science of Endochronology in
its relation to rejuvenation American Endocrine Laboratories marketed and distributed
(10:26):
them both, plus a third book titled Your Mysterious Glands,
How Your Glands Control Your mental and physical development and
Moral Welfare that was published a few years later.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Rubenaugh denied that he held any interest in Bailey's company, and
also denied he sold the radio indocrenator, but he did
admit he used the device on patients in his medical practice,
and admitted that when he prescribed it to patients, he
did so through a company called Raticent Endocrine Laboratories, and
he called the product the Rootcronator, and so yes, if
(11:03):
it looks like a duck and it wacks like a duck,
then it is probably a duck. The endocrinator was just
another name for the radi endocarnator, and Radison Endocrine Laboratories
was another name used by American Endocrine Laboratories. So technically
he didn't sell the radi endocrenator. But who did he
(11:24):
think he was fooling? A bit of a spoiler about
the guy. Because of Reuben's business interests in sketchy health
products and devices, he was expelled from the medical societies
of the State of New York and the County of
New York in March of nineteen twenty four, and in
nineteen twenty six, Ratison Endocrine Laboratories changed their name to
(11:45):
US Gamma Laboratories. Guys, we see you.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Some historians believe that Ruben and not Bailey, may have
actually been the one who invented the radiandocrenator, sometimes referred
to as the clinic type radi indocrenator. The problem with
this version of the instrument was that it couldn't be
mass produced and sold to the public because it was big.
Remember we mentioned a moment ago it was the size
of a football. So either Reuben or Bailey, and it
(12:14):
is not clear which created what became known as the standard,
smaller version of the device, described at the time as quoted,
the newest type of radiu indocrenator for home use is
a very small device and comes together with adapters for
attaching it to body.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Bailey left American Endocrine Laboratories probably in the mid nineteen
twenties ish when he began focusing on his newest patent
medicine called Ratathor the elixir would become his most famous
and infamous product. He manufactured it at the New Bailey
Radium Laboratories in East Orange, New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Ratathor consisted of only a few ingredients, but they were
very potent ingredients. Give ingredients were radium, specifically the radium
two twenty six and two twenty eight isotopes, as well
as the radioactive element mesothorium. The rest just some otherwise
harmless distilled water. This was marketed as a cure for asthma, constipation,
(13:17):
low libido, diabetes, mental illness, and one hundred and forty
five other ailments, and it worked by quote exciting the
endocrine system into battling its afflictions, and one marketing campaign
offered one thousand dollars to anyone who tried it and
didn't think it was great. And no one ever claimed
that reward.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
But they should have, because if they lived to tell
about it, it was a miracle. Today this product is
considered one of the very first quote unquote energy drinks,
but it's also one of the most well known examples
of radioactive quackery. But in the nineteen twenties, for thirty dollars,
you could, with no warning label in sight, purchase a
(13:58):
case of twenty four to two ounds bottles for perspective,
that's upwards of five hundred dollars a case in today's money.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Bailey had his hands in a lot of things, though
in nineteen twenty four. In nineteen twenty five, he was
also president of the Thorwn Company, located in New York City.
The company specialized in thorium pharmaceutical preparations and marketing materials.
Promised that they sold quote internal sunshine. That was their
(14:27):
euphemism for claiming they cured male impotence. Thorium is a
naturally occurring radioactive metal, and today it is a known carcinogen.
An example of one advertisement from nineteen twenty five featured
a muscular, confident and shirtless man and claimed quote amazing
earth power builds vigorous man power.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
All his good fortune changed. In June of nineteen twenty six.
He may have been focused on ratathor, but federal authorities
were focused on well him. The United States Attorney for
the District of Maryland filed an order for the quote
seizure and condemnation of fifty six packages and one hundred
and thirty five boxes of arium tablets shipped from New
(15:12):
York by Associated radium chemists, stating that the company's claims
quote regarding the curative and therapeutic effects of said article
were false and fraudulent. The court case became known as
the United States versus fifty six packages of Arium tablets.
When the United States Department of Agriculture analyzed the seized arium,
(15:34):
they found that the tablets were actually composed of mainly
lithium carbonate, starch, and talc, and each contained eight point
five eight nanoquieries of radium.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Also in June of nineteen twenty six, the United States
attorneys for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the District
of Connecticut filed similar orders for the seizure and condemnation
of additional packages of areum tablets. These seized packages of
tablets shipped in February and July of nineteen twenty seven
from New York to Tacoma, Washington. A subsequent analysis showed
(16:11):
that arium's content had changed slightly. These tablets contained a
different amount of radium two point six nanacuries each, and
strychnine had been added to the ingredients. Bailey closed down
associated radium chemists and moved on. He played very fast
and loose with company and product names that by the
(16:32):
early nineteen thirties, he was running three different companies that
sold radioactive products to the public. Like Bailey Radium Laboratories,
These three new companies were all based in East Orange,
New Jersey, Adrenay Company, Bioay Company, and Thorinator Company. None
of the three survived very long, and although Bailey blamed
(16:54):
their failure on the effects of the Greek Depression, it
was really his ongoing trouble with federal authority that was
the cause of their demise.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
It was a high profile radiation poisoning and subsequent death
from Ratathor consumption that led to measures that would end
Bailey's radium rain and strengthen the Food and Drug Administration's
powers and oversight. Because the FDA was still very new,
it was still quite weak, and the investigation into Ratithor
(17:23):
and William Bailey was handed over to the Federal Trade Commission,
a group that had more power. This was a nail
in the coffin for bunk radioactive so called cures.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Here's the thing about radium. It was discovered by Marie
and per Curie in eighteen ninety eight, and it is
a naturally occurring silvery white radioactive metal that's formed when
uranium and thorium, which are two other natural radioactive substances,
decay in the environment. Radium glows blue green in the dark,
(17:55):
and it gives off light for years without any apparent
power source. Because of its chemical similarity to calcium, radium
behaves chemically like calcium. When it's in the human body.
That's bad because it replaces the calcium in your bones.
It is known as a quote bone seeker. Rather than
passing through the body, it leaves behind radium deposits, and
(18:18):
those deposits destroy blood cells, bone marrow, and other tissue.
Depending on your level of exposure, it can cause everything
from anemia, hair loss, cataracts, broken or loose teeth, impairment
of the body's functioning of tissues and its organs, and
an overwhelming increased risk of cancer. Radium can be lethal.
(18:40):
In fact, Marie Currey highlighted that the effects of radiation
on the human body were not well understood at the time,
and she never condoned its use in things that people
might eat or drink. In nineteen thirty four, she died
of aplastic anemia caused by radiation poisoning. Because of her
groundbreaking work.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
When Ratathor hit the market, it was already known that
radium was dangerous, although it's unclear whether the public understood
that it could be lethal. In nineteen thirteen, five years
before Bailey sold his Lassico for superb Manhood product, British
scientist Walter Lazarus Barlow published a study correctly noting that
(19:21):
ingested radium accumulates in the bones, and in nineteen fourteen,
Professor Ernst Zublin, a medical professor at the University of Maryland,
warned of its dangers to the body in a published
review of seven hundred medical reports, many of which showed
that bone necrosis and ulcerations were a frequent side effect
from ingesting radium. Despite their work, Ratithor sales remained strong
(19:44):
through the nineteen twenties. According to a two thousand and
seven report published in the Journal of Radiologic Protection, we
now know that when radium is taken internally, the poisoning
can be fatal within one month.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our Sponenzers, and when we're back we will talk
about a man named Eben Byers who died a horrific
and tragic death because of his continued consumption of radium
infused water.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's meet Evan Byers, a popular
industrialist slash playboy of the nineteen twenties.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Eben Byers died from his consumption of Ratathor. He was
a Pittsburgh industrialist. He was suave, He was popular. He
was also an amateur golfer with promise. He won the
US Amateur Golf Championship in nineteen oh six. It was
in nineteen twenty seven, after an arm injury just wouldn't
heal properly and was spoiling his golf game, that his
(20:56):
physician suggested that he tried Bailey's Ratithor. Doctor Moyer, who
prescribed the drink for buyers, insisted to federal authorities when
later questioned that it was not harmful, stating quote, I
never had a death among my patients for radium treatment.
I have taken as much or more radium water of
the same kind mister Byers took, and I am fifty
(21:18):
one years old, active and healthy. I believe that radium
water has a definite place in the treatment of certain diseases,
and I prescribe when I deem it necessary.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Byers was a well known guy, and his illness and
death caused an inquiry into radioactive patent medicines like Ratithor.
Federal authorities had some suspicions about the safety of the
product before Buyer's death, and Federal Trade Commission lawyer Robert
Heiner Wynn had been dispatched to interview him. Of that interview,
(21:51):
which took place shortly before Buyers died, when described him
as quote young in years and mentally alert, He could
hardly speak. His head was swathened bandages. He had undergone
two successive operations in which his whole upper jaw, excepting
two front teeth, and most of his lower jaw, had
been removed. All the remaining bone tissue of his body
(22:14):
was slowly disintegrating and holes were actually forming in his skull.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Timothy J. Jorgensen, a professor in the Department of Radiation
Medicine at Georgetown University, stated about Buyers in an article
for The Conversation that quote, although the product contained no narcotics,
he became at least psychologically, if not physiologically, addicted to it.
He continued to consume large amounts of Ratathor even after
(22:43):
his arm had healed In fact, Buyers was so pro
ratathor that he gifted cases of it to friends. He
was a huge fan, and he even had it given
to his race horses. But then things took a turn
for the worse. By lost a considerable amount of weight
and began having headaches, and then began to suffer bone
(23:05):
necrosis in his jaw, which caused him to lose several teeth.
Radium jaw was a real thing. The condition caused dental pain,
loose teeth, lesions, and ulcers, and the failure of tooth
extractions to heal. A Wall Street Journal headlined bluntly stated
quote the radium water worked fine until his jaw came off.
(23:27):
All the radium that Buyers had consumed had accumulated in
his bones and caused his death in March of nineteen
thirty two. He was fifty one.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
When Evan Byers died from using the product. His physician,
doctor Mayer, claimed he quote knew that his patient had
really died from quote a combination of blood diseases which
had induced gout. And autopsy, though did not agree with
Moyer's conclusion. It was discovered that Buyers had an abscess
(23:57):
on his brain. All but six of his teeth had
fallen out, and his body contained more than three and
a half times the lethal amount of radium. When he died.
He was buried in a lead lined coffin. Normally, that's
to help keep out moisture and preserve the body for
longer and prevent odors and toxins from escaping. In this case,
(24:17):
it was specifically to block the radiation being released from
the bones in his body. Radium has a half life
of sixteen hundred years, so Buyer's bones have virtually the
same amount of radium in them now as they did
the day he died.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Bailey absolved himself in Buyer's death by stating he only
provided ratathor to patients on a doctor's prescription. One such practitioner,
doctor CG. Davis, was very pro radium and had written
glowing things no pun intended about it in the American
Journal of Clinical Medicine, including that quote radioactivity prevents insanity,
(24:56):
rouses noble emotions, retards old age, and creates a splendid, youthful,
joyous life. At least six other physicians, according to Federal
Trade Commission's investigation Information, prescribed ratithor and stated that none
of their patients had died.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Radium infused drinks were removed from the market in December
of nineteen thirty one, just three months before buyer's death
from them. Ultimately, in the interest of protecting public health,
the FTC closed down the Bailey Radium laboratories, but after
the federal investigation, Bailey carried on. In nineteen thirty seven,
he became a partner in lee Caalpadine Company of New
(25:36):
York City. Their sole product consisted of calpidine tablets made
of compressed pelletized seaweed. That's right, there was nothing radioactive
about this one. Marketing claims, though, were totally sketched, and
promised that the tablets could treat thirty two specific diseases.
And because of those outrageous promises that couldn't be backed up,
(25:58):
he ran up against the FDA's mission and to crack
down on such false claims. This was likely the final
patent medicine Bailey marketed to the public.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
In the end, Bailey died a wealthy man, suffering no
consequence from the deadly effects of his snake oil products,
while no serious or significant legal consequence. That is, he
once said of his ratithor and its safety. Quote, I
have drunk more radium water than any man alive, and
I have never suffered any ill effects. But that too,
(26:31):
was not the truth. He died in May of nineteen
forty nine at the age of sixty four of bladder cancer.
Twenty years later, when his body was exhumed and tested
for radioactive isotopes, Geiger counters found his body had been
quote ravaged by radiation, and because of that half life,
(26:51):
he still is.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
There's no cure for what ails this, But what.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Do you have for us? No, there isn't, And in fact,
that's kind of what inspires this drink. A few different
things inspired this drink. One, of course, from a visual standpoint,
I love the idea of radium being this kind of cloudy,
silvery white and glowing greenish at night. Of course, there's
(27:22):
going to be some fun color in this one. But
the other thing that struck me about the story is
just the damn denial that people would be in and
be like, no, that's not that thing that I gave
that guy. That's poison. That's no way, that's not the
problem at all. We're calling it radium denial. It has
nothing dangerous in it. If you're allergic to alcohol, or
(27:45):
if you drink too much, please drink responsibly. Anything can
be problematic if you have too much of it, even water.
But we're hoping that our listeners are a little bit
more judicious than that. And this is a really easy
one to put together. You want a very very cold,
pre chilled martini glass. Normally I don't care what glass
you use, but this one, I really think like a
(28:06):
pointy martini glass is gonna look the best. And you'll
see why. There is a visual element to this. You
are gonna put into your shaker, so simple, a half
ounce of lime juice, a half ounce of orja, or
a regular almond syrup. I will caveat this one and say,
book for an almond syrup that has that like silvery
(28:28):
slightly milky look to it. And then you're just gonna
do an ounce and a half of gin and you're
gonna shake this with ice and then strain it into
your pre chilled glass. And then you are gonna take
a half ounce of midori and you're gonna very slowly
and carefully pour it over a spoon down on one
(28:49):
of the side edges of your glass. It won't all
sink to the bottom, but some of it will some
of it is gonna color your drink, and it ends
up giving it this really fun green glow that kind
of comes from below. Here's the thing. I also had
an accident one where it did it just mixed itself
really fast, and even that green was quite beautiful and glowy.
(29:12):
So it still has an effect of the visual, but
that would also be for presentation only when you serve it.
If the green is on the bottom, make clear to
whoever is drinking it that they're going to want to
swizzle it up before they actually take a sip. This
is a really yummy drink for me. I will say
I made a complete disaster version earlier that I didn't
care to speak on beyond acknowledging that it happened. But
(29:33):
this one turned out beautifully and was a relief where
I was like, oh, my goodness, have I lost my
sense of like how things could go together? And I
don't know what happened on the first one happened. I
just lost my mind.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
It happened.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I tried too much, and a lot of flavors gotten
in argument. I will put it that way.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
It seems like a very simple drink now it is.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
It's very simple. It's super easy. If this is one
of those ones that if it is too potent for
you in its martini form, you can add a little
club soda to it. You could even add a little
tonic to it, and you essentially get like a gin
and tonic with a honeydew note, which is quite lovely.
I think there are some drinks like that already that
(30:11):
are called like a Japanese gin and tonic or a
Japanese tonic. It's delicious. The mocktail on this one is
pretty simple. We have talked about before, subbing out gin
for a flat tonic, and I stand by it for
this one. And then your orja and your lime juice
are the same. And then in lieu of madori a
honeydew syrup. And in case people don't remember, that's easy
(30:33):
to make. Just chop up some honeydew and boil it
with a cup of water and a cup of sugar,
and let that boil for a little while, and then
strain it and keep that boiled sweet candied honeydew and
put it on ice cream, your toast or whatever, or
just eat it with a spoon like I do, because
you cannot control your childlike some That is the radium denial,
(30:56):
which contains no radioactive ingredients and is in fact yummy.
And I want to raise it in honor of poor
Eben who lost his life to.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Quackery what he thought was a health drink.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
This is a problem always, it continues. There a lot
of issues going on regarding what substances are and are
not monitored by the FDA. And so just for our listeners,
you're all bright, bright people, I know, but always be
a little careful. When people over promise things to sound miraculous,
it's probably not really going to be what they say
(31:33):
it is. But I can promise you that the radium
denial is very delicious. It's not going to cure anything,
but it might put a smile on your face, and
really that's all I can ask for it.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Sometimes that's a cure.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
It does have restorative properties. In that room, we are
so grateful that you've spent this time with us today
and we hope we will see you right back here
next week at Criminalia, where there will be more snake
oil and a little more of the cures. What a
(32:06):
Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com