7 "Hot" Products: Radioactive Gifts and Gadgets of Yesteryear [Slide Show]

With another holiday shopping season upon us, here is a look back at some of the consumer items of the early 20th century that had some gift givers and receivers radiating more than just smiles

FOR THAT RADIANT LOOK In the 1920s and 1930s radioactive elements also made their way into many cosmetic products. "People at the time thought radium was healthful and would make them beautiful," the U.I.C.'s Mullner says...
PLATE WARMER This handsome dishware, part of the Fiesta line originally introduced by the Homer Laughlin China Co. in 1936, had a special ingredient in its glaze: uranium. The "brilliant red" hue seen in the plate (pictured) contained particularly high levels of uranium oxide... Homer Laughlin China Co.
HOT CHOCOLATE We all love our sweets, making chocolate a classic gift for almost any occasion. A German company called Burk & Braun apparently sought to improve on the popularity of its products by sprinkling radium into its cocoa...
WATCH OUT Clock-makers circa 1920 turned to radium-laced, glow-in-the-dark paint to light up the dials on watch and clock faces. Companies often employed young women to paint the numerals and clock hands, even encouraging workers to lick the tips of their paintbrushes to keep them sharp... ORAU
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ELIXIR OF HALF-LIFE To be fair, it was not just trend-spotting commercialists like inventor William J. A. Bailey who got swept up in the radiation craze. "Physicians took off with the idea...they tried to use it for every disease under the sun," says Ross Mullner, an associate professor of health policy and administration at the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago... ORAU/Roger Macklis
QUITE A TESTI-MONIAL Other, earlier items were not as harmless as Gilbert's Atomic Lab. The Radiendocrinator, circa 1930, serves as one glaring example. Working off the assumption (or at least public perception) that radiation offered health benefits and sexual fitness, inventor William J... ORAU/Texas Department of Health, courtesy of Robin Houston
NUCLEAR FAMILY FUN The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab drops the proverbial bomb on today's kiddie microscope sets. It boasted more than 150 different experiments using four varieties of uranium ore (uranium is weakly radioactive), along with radioactive isotopes of lead, ruthenium and zinc, plus an array of detection instruments, including a Geiger counter... ORAU/Bill Kolb

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