THE SHOCKING DEATH BY RADIATION OF EBEN BYERS. +18

Eben Byers was a wealthy American socialite, athlete, and industrialist who gained notoriety in the early 1930s when he died of multiple radiation-induced cancers after taking Radithor, a popular patent medicine made from radium dissolved in water.

Background.

Ebenezer McBurney Byers was born on April 12, 1880. His wealthy background allowed him to receive a good education, and he even graduated from Yale University. He was an athletic young man who won many golf championships in the early 20th century. Once his father deemed him old enough, he appointed him president of the Girard Iron Company.

The accident.

In 1927, Byers injured his arm when he fell from the second bunk of a railroad sleeper. The injury wasn't very serious, but it caused a great deal of pain, something Byers wasn't used to.

To alleviate his persistent pain, a doctor suggested he take Radithor, a patented medication manufactured by William J.A. Bailey. Bailey was a dropout from Harvard University who falsely claimed to be a medical doctor and had become wealthy through the sale of Radithor, a solution of radium in water that, according to him, stimulated the endocrine system. He offered doctors a kickback of 1/6 for every prescribed dose.

William JA Bailey.

It was claimed that the expensive product cured impotence, among other ailments. It was even advertised as “A cure for the living dead” as well as “Permanent sunlight.”

Byers followed his doctor's instructions to take only one small spoonful a day. For a short time, Byers also experienced the placebo effect, as he felt so good, in fact, that he began taking an entire bottle a day, then two bottles a day two weeks later, and after a year, even three bottles a day.

The terrible consequences.

After taking several doses of Radithor a day, believing it gave him a “sense of vitality,” Byers stopped in October 1930 (after taking about 1,400 doses) when that effect wore off. He lost weight and suffered from headaches, and his teeth began to fall out. In 1931, the Federal Trade Commission asked him to testify about his experience, but he was too ill to travel, so the commission sent a lawyer to take his statement at his home; the lawyer reported that “Byers’ entire upper jaw, except for two front teeth, and most of his lower jaw had been removed” and that “all the remaining bone tissue in his body was disintegrating, and holes were actually forming in his skull.” 

It is known that Byers did not feel much pain, since all his nerves were also melted away by the substance in time.

The doctors tried to remove all the decayed tissue from his face and surgically reconstructed a new jaw so he wouldn't look so disfigured. From 1927, when he began taking Radithor, until 1931, when he stopped, Byers consumed more than 1,400 bottles. Meanwhile, his tissue and vital organs were also disintegrating inside his body, leading to his death in 1932, when he was only 51 years old.

Officially, his death occurred on March 31, 1932, and was attributed to “radiation poisoning”, to use the terminology of the time, but it was actually caused by cancers, not acute radiation syndrome.

The authorities shut down Bailey's company; however, he tried to sell the same product under a different name.

In 1965, Byers' body was exhumed for examination, and his remains are still extremely radioactive. They are currently buried at Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a lead-lined coffin.

Media impact.

The media coverage of his death caused a huge scandal at the time. His case, often recalled for the ironic and cruel headline in The Wall Street Journal (“Radio Water Worked Just Fine Until His Jaw Fell Off”), prompted the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) to intervene aggressively. Following Byers’ death, authorities finally had the power and justification to ban the sale of radioactive “medicines” for public consumption, putting an end to a dangerous pseudoscientific fad.

Fake news.

For years, Byers' case was shared on social media and forums along with a shocking photograph of a man with a shattered jaw. Although, medically speaking, the photograph is genuine, it does not depict Byers. It actually comes from a medical book published by the U.S. government in 1942, titled "Manual of Standard Practice of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery", written by Robert H. Ivy.

This manual documents severe combat injuries and reconstructive techniques for war veterans. The unidentified subject in the image is a soldier with catastrophic facial injuries caused by artillery fire, not a victim of radiation poisoning.