The dangers of radioactivity and radiation were not
immediately recognized. Acute effects of radiation were first observed in the
use of X-rays when electrical engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla intentionally
subjected his fingers to X-rays in 1896.[3] He published his observations
concerning the burns that developed, though he attributed them to ozone rather
than to X-rays. His injuries later healed.
The genetic effects of radiation, including the effect of
cancer risk, were recognized much later. In 1927, Hermann Joseph Muller
published research showing genetic effects, and in 1946 was awarded the Nobel
prize for his findings.
Before the biological effects of radiation were known, many
physicians and corporations began marketing radioactive substances as patent
medicine in the form of glow-in-the-dark pigments. Examples were radium enema
treatments, and radium-containing waters to be drunk as tonics. Marie Curie
protested this sort of treatment, warning that the effects of radiation on the
human body were not well understood.
Curie later died from aplastic anemia,
likely caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. By the 1930s, after a number
of cases of bone necrosis and death of enthusiasts, radium-containing medicinal
products had been largely removed from the market (radioactive quackery).
