Speaking for Almighty God, they endorsed RADIUM
by Nathan Natas 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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BluesBrother
Similar to the women in match making factories in times past getting “ phosyy jaw from the phosphorus then used in matches …
But how does this involve Watctower ?
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St George of England
I think the OP is thinking of the way WT pushed radium as a beneficial health product, back in JFR's days. One quote I found:-
As we know Radium is an extremely harmful radioactive substance. The “Radio-Solar Pad” was basically a pad containing radioactive radium which you simply strapped to your back. Its makers claimed
"radio-activity is further increased by exposing the pad to sunlight" and "when applied to the body, the pad immediately begins to discharge this energy into the system, sending the life giving current through the blood and nervous system."
As this was endorsed by the President of the Watchtower, Judge Rutherford, it can only be assumed that he would have received some kind of personal payment.
How many Jehovah Witnesses got cancer after wearing this device? Please see Blood Guilt
JFR was prone to jump on all manner of quack science and write about it. The "Water Canopy" is another example, from Isaac Newton Vale, another quack.
George
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blondie
Here's an article that might shed light on this topic: https://sites.google.com/view/channelc-publications/publications/history-practices-beliefs/medical-quakery and this from JWN https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/78562/rutherford-wore-this
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ballistic
Radium Girls the dvd is available on Amazon and eBay, based on the true story of the girls whose job it was to paint the dials for airplane cockpits, so they would glow in the dark.
It is said that if you could peer into the soil where these girls are buried to this day their bones will still be giving off a slight glow.
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ballistic
Taken from the source: Degnen's Standard Radio-Active Solar Pad (1915-1930) | Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity
The original belt which used purfied Radium had a dosage of :
- Approximately 35-40 uR/hr above background at one foot for the radium containing pad (top photo)
- Approximately 1-2 uR/hr above background at one foot for the uranium containing pad (bottom photo)
Doing a rough calculation of microroentgens to what I measure background radiation with which is microsiverts / hour (but not accounting for the space of 1 foot) it comes to 0.35-0.40 microsieverts per hour.
This was before the new version (bottom photo) appeared with drastically reduced levels of radioactivity due to switching to unrefined ore.
To be honest these levels are only several times background radiation and the biggest concern I would have is the possibility of the chemicals leaking, getting into the air, breathed in or ingested. It would be impossible to say whether it led to bowl cancer but the exposure level of the radium girls was very different (chronic).
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BluesBrother
Interesting articles and, yes, we know that the Society through the pages of the Golden Age ( later Awake ! ) often made some pretty extreme comments in the old days .Even today many Witnesses have lingering doubts about regular doctors and favour alternative therapies. Btw, I have definitely benefited from Osteopaths and Chiropractic therapy, but that is hardly extreme.
Many years back when I was still a believer, I could see that such comments on medicine and science were only the view of the article writer although then I accepted that the doctrinal stuff was “ spirit directed “ .