Liquid Sunshine-Beneficial Fad or Human Carcinogen Research Paper

Liquid Sunshine-Beneficial Fad or Human Carcinogen - Research Paper Example Investigations soon found the ill effects of long-term exposure to radium. The use of radium as therapeutic agent was discontinued, but the victims of this metal died painful deaths. In 1900s, radium became a treatment option for many illnesses of the day. However, its popularity as a promoter of health soon declined. This paper aims at recounting the rise and fall of radium as a therapeutic agent. Radium (atomic number 88) is a radioactive alkaline earth metal, belonging to the same group as calcium and barium (Radium, 2009). Its radioactive nature makes radium a luminescent metal that glows in the dark. Radium is a decay product of radioactive uranium 238. Nobel laureates Pierre and Marie Curie discovered this metal in 1898. Marie Curie received her second Nobel Price for Chemistry in 1911 for her work on radium and polonium (Pasachoff, 1996). Pierre Curie was the first scientist to advocate the medical uses of radium. Pierre exposed his arm to radium for many hours, which caused a burn that took many months to heal. He concluded that diseased cells may be destroyed by exposure to radioactivity and that radium could be a potential cure for cancer and skin diseases (Clark, 1997; Pasachoff, 1996). The results of Curies trailblazing research on effects of radium catapulted this element to instant fame. Radiation therapy with radium became a standard treatment for cancer, benign tumors, warts, and even facial hair (Clark, 1997). By early 1900s, radium laced water was advertised as a therapeutic agent for a host of other problems (Clark, 1997). This radium water was called liquid sunshine as it was considered a magic elixir for better health and longer life (Rosch, 2004). As radium was expensive, radon, a product of radium decay, was used often to manufacture radium water (Clark, 1997). Radium water was prescribed as germicida l, antibacterial, and antifungal to treat diseases such as diphtheria, malaria, typhoid, and liver diseases (Clark, 1997). Many