Health benefits of radioactive peanuts
WHICH century produced this, we wondered: 鈥淢erano, a pretty little town in South Tyrol, became a health resort thanks to its curative mountain air, mild climate and thermal baths鈥� The waters contain radon and are claimed to cure circulatory problems.鈥� Hang on 鈥� radon? The radioactive noble gas?
Our first thought was that this claim must be from the late 19th century, when radiation was new, new things were progress, progress was healthy, and therefore new things, such as radiation, were healthy. A little searching took us to a very wonderful web page at . Unfortunately, the compendium of 鈥渉ot鈥� products that we found there gives no date for the radioactive suppositories that promised to make 鈥渨eak discouraged men鈥� bubble over with joyous vitality鈥� (sent in plain wrapping).
Advertisement
However, we do have dates for the , a water crock lined with radium that provided 鈥渞eal, healthful water鈥� for drinking. According to the entry about it in the 鈥渉istorical collection鈥� on the Oak Ridge Associated Universities website, the Revigator was on sale in the US as late as the 1930s.
Then we realised the claim about the Merano spa was not from the past at all. It was spotted by reader Anabel Curry on 8 January in London鈥檚 Independent newspaper. What鈥檚 more, the spa鈥檚 promoters are not alone. According to Bella Online () there are currently four 鈥渞adon health mines鈥� in the American state of Montana where those who agree that 鈥渞adon is thought to stimulate growth of cells, repair DNA and improve antioxidant action and immune response鈥� can expose themselves to it for a fee. The Free Enterprise Mine, for example, charges $175 for a season pass.
Our surprise over this is increased by a page from Scientific American that Bob Michell scanned and sent us. This announces in the middle of a discussion about phosphate mining that: 鈥淭he white or gray substance emits radon gas and is therefore used in only a few applications, such as peanut farming.鈥�
Bob says this is 鈥渙ne of the oddest non sequiturs I have ever come across鈥� and we cannot disagree. Nevertheless, perhaps we should now start searching for examples of the health-giving qualities of radioactive peanuts.
THE trend for ever more sciency sounding product descriptions may have backfired, Ian Cash thought. He noticed that Pharmacy At Hand鈥檚 anti-dandruff shampoo states that its 鈥淗ydrazine formula is effective in fighting the source of dandruff鈥�.
Wikipedia as 鈥渉ighly toxic and dangerously unstable鈥� and adds that it is 鈥渦sed in various rocket fuels鈥�. Is Head & Shoulders really making shampoo that could be used for propelling rockets?
We鈥檙e relieved to find that it isn鈥檛, of course. The itself talks not of 鈥渉ydrazine鈥�, but 鈥淗ydraZinc鈥� 鈥� which, so far as we know, is definitely not capable of flying us to the moon. Whoever copied this onto the Pharmacy At Hand website can鈥檛 have been concentrating very hard 鈥� either that, or the curse of the spellchecker has struck again.
OUR stories about Australia鈥檚 rising sea levels being caused by the weight of its population (25 December 2010 and 29 January) reminded Len Yaeger of the time an elderly relative confided to him that she had worked out what was causing global warming. Her theory was based on the notion that the world鈥檚 population growth is out of control and more and more people are obese. Therefore, the Earth is getting heavier, which makes it move closer to the sun.
READER Les Whalley was surprised by the auto-reply message he received in response to an email he had sent to 鈥榮 customer support team. It said: 鈥淵our email will be answered as quickly as possible by one of our trained support staff within 8 working hours鈥� If you do not receive a reply within 8 working hours, please call us on 01926 818 800 as we may not have received your email.鈥�
ACCORDING to the article about the World Health Organization鈥檚 objectives, which Nic Koslover was reading in the October 2010 issue of the Student BMJ, the WHO 鈥渉as obliged to improve gender quality in the coming year鈥�.
Leaving aside the curious use of language in this statement, Nic wants to know if this means we can expect a lot more masculine men and more feminine women to appear as the WHO goes about achieving its objectives.
FINALLY, checking on the turbulent civil unrest in Egypt, a colleague looked at the latest on the London Guardian website. Dramatic pictures of milling crowds, tear gas and street violence were accompanied by a Google ad offering the chance to 鈥渨in a fantastic Egypt holiday鈥�.