radioactivity were

The new phenomenon of radioactivity was seized upon by the manufacturers of quack medicine ( as had the discoveries of electricity and magnetism, earlier ), and a number of patent medicines and treatments involving radioactivity were put forward.

At the scientific level of the debate, the crucial question was whether the " threshold theory " was valid or whether, as Lewis insisted, the effects of radioactivity were " linear with no threshold ", where every exposure to radiation had a long-term cumulative effect.

Hotspots of up to 250, 000 becquerels of radioactivity were identified where unburnt dials had been abandoned in piles on the ground.