Seen one of these cones around Texas? They're a radioactive relic of a bogus health treatment
Dr. Paul Frame said the actual name of the quack cure was “The Thomas Cone,” and it was made in Lubbock, Texas.
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Lubbock was once a player in the health fad falsely promoting the medical benefits of drinking radioactively-charged water, and the artifacts are still around today.
A coworker recently brought a small concrete cone into the newsroom, calling it a “Lubbock Cone.” She said it was radioactive, and people would put it in water to infuse the water with radon.
The newsroom at EverythingLubbock.com wanted to know why anyone would do that, so we asked Dr. Paul Frame from the Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity. He said the actual name of the object was “The Thomas Cone.”
“It was a radioactive quack cure,” Frame said. “You could put the cone in a jar of water, typically overnight... You would drink the water.”
In the mid-1900s, makers promised “all these health benefits,” but radioactivity is not safe for humans, and such claims led to trouble for the manufacturers.
Frame said in the early 1940s, Charlotte Thomas, the wife of Ralph W. Thomas, sold the Thomas Radioactive Cone Company to Earl T. Pribble, who had been a long-time distributor in Lubbock.
Pribble moved production from California to Lubbock. Frame said these cones were then made inside a home, but did not give specifics on where in Lubbock they were created, out of consideration for Pribble's family.
“There are no company records that I’m aware of that tell you how many were produced,” Frame said. “But I think it’s fair to say the bulk of the cones were made in Lubbock.”
Frame was not entirely clear on the timeline, but he thought production went into the 1950s or possibly even the early 1960s.
According to the American Council on Science and Health, the Thomas Cone was made by encasing carnotite inside of porous concrete. ACSH described the cone and similar devices as “snake oil” products. According to the Federal Department of Energy, carnotite is a toxic mineral.
By the 1950s, Frame said, false health claims could get a company in trouble with the FDA. Frame documented online that as early as 1936, Charlotte agreed to cease and desist from making medical claims about the cones.
Frame said in the early 1960s state officials raided the Lubbock home where the cones were made, confiscating the molds, stamps and other materials.
“There are collectors that are interested [in the cones],” Frames said. They are worth more if the original box and brochure are included.
But are the cones dangerous?
Dr. Michael Robertson, Chief Executive of Covenant Health Partners, said no amount of radiation is safe.
“That is the reason that extraordinary measures are used to protect patients and medical professionals from radiation used for diagnostic testing and accepted therapeutic treatments,” Robertson said.
“While in the 1920s, it may have been considered healthy to drink water that was infused with radon, it certainly is not considered safe now," Robertson said.
“In years past, radiation therapy was considered to be a common treatment for acne and other skin diseases,” Robertson warned. “This resulted years later in a spike in thyroid cancer and other cancers of the head and neck.”
Such devices, which were acceptable in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, would be considered medical malpractice now.
“The same would be said for the use of the Thomas cone," Robertson said.
Robertson said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), based upon a report from the National Academy of Science, estimates that radon in drinking water causes about 168 cancer deaths per year.
Radon occurs naturally but is not healthy to consume. Click here for information on radon test kits.