# Radium Water

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radium-water/218497>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 12, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radium-water/218497 "2003-12-12T01:54:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kilogttam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9bd4f/32.png) [@kilogttam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kilogttam)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radium-water/218497/1 "2003-12-12T01:54:47Z")

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I was watching a program on TV about stupid inventions of the past and one was created shortly after the discovery of Radium, called “Radium Water” (It was supposed to be healthy for you somehow). Tale tells that a man (in a span of years) drank over 1400 bottles of this stuff and his lower jaw adventually fell off of his face.

Can someone verify?

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**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radium-water/218497/2 "2003-12-12T02:04:19Z")

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[Cite](http://www.mtn.org/quack/devices/radium.htm). The guy was [Eben M Byers](http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/northside/nor_n106.html).

Warning: Only drink radioactive fluids after consultation with your local health provider. 😉

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**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radium-water/218497/3 "2003-12-12T03:02:05Z")

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Just as a side note- the town I grew up in, every six months we’d get a letter from the city government telling us that the radium levels in the local water supply were above national safe levels. Apparently telling us was pretty much all they legally had to do at the time. Luckilly, by the time I reached my teens, the water source for the town was switched.

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**Author:** ![swansont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@swansont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swansont)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/radium-water/218497/4 "2003-12-12T12:55:10Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ArrMatey! \*  
> Just as a side note- the town I grew up in, every six months we’d get a letter from the city government telling us that the radium levels in the local water supply were above national safe levels. Apparently telling us was pretty much all they legally had to do at the time. Luckilly, by the time I reached my teens, the water source for the town was switched.

I’ve heard this is true of some natural spas (Saratoga Springs, in particular), where people would go to drink the water - for their health.