A Radiantly Bright Idea That Backfired
Medical monitoring and product safety investigations back then were not what they are today. As a result, we lack accurate figures for just how severe and widespread the damage was. However, while we do not have an idea about the actual extent of the damage, damage there undoubtedly was. The first serious alarms were raised in 1957, when The British Medical Journal ran an article about a middle-aged woman with skin damage and pain consistent with radiation burns. She had worked in a shoe store for ten years. There, she operated an X-Ray Shoe Fitter 15 to 20 times a day, and often demonstrated how it worked by inserting her own foot in the device. That backfired, and damaged her health. Worse still was the fate of an unfortunate shoe model, who received so much radiation her leg had to be amputated.
When X-Ray Shoe Fitters were invented, there were no safety or health regulations in place. For decades, few paid attention to their dangers. For example, an estimated 10,000 devices were sold in America, about 3,000 in Britain, 15,00 in Switzerland, and 1,000 in Canada before the authorities began to discourage their use. As awareness grew of the long-term adverse health effects of radiation, the notion that using X-ray machines in shoe stores might be a bad idea gained in popularity. Accordingly, voices were raised to regulate the devices, and eventually, to prohibit their use. In 1958, Britain mandated warning signs on the devices, and the following year, Switzerland prohibited their use. By 1970, the devices had been banned in 33 American states, and by the end of the decade, the last recorded sighting of an X-ray shoe Fitter occurred in Boston.