A Reason to Question Authority
Healthy
water fads have been around a long time. Most consumers of packaged
water are sold by the company's claims of the purest, most natural H2O
available with the finest mineral content. If you are a believer now,
be thankful you were not around 100 years ago when the most prized water
had been properly nuked with an assortment of radioactive elements.
Until the long-term effects of radiation exposure were well known, Radon
Water (H2ORn?) was served up to
untold thousands in office coolers, restaurants, and trendy homes. Radon,
produced by the radioactive decay of thorium and uranium, contributes
to the heat of natural hot spas where much of the Radon Water was collected.
Once word got out that radon has a half life of just 3.82 days and that
it would be largely depleted by the time it got to the consumer, a new
method was necessary to preserve the "freshness." The Radium Ore Revigator
company had a better idea with its water cooler sporting a reservoir
of carnotite (uranium/radium ore) that properly "invigorated" the water
overnight. Unfortunately for the office water cooler crowd, it worked
very well. Competition became so intense that vendors began guaranteeing
the full advertised dosage, lest anyone feel cheated. Bailey Radium
Labs offered $1k to anyone who could prove its Radithor water did not
contain the proclaimed amount of radium and thorium. Eben Byers, famous
industrialist and athlete, was a 3-bottle-a-day Radithor believer right
up until shortly before he succumbed to its wickedness. According to
the Wall Street Journal headline of the day, "The Radium Water Worked
Fine until His Jaw Came Off."
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