Doramad Radioactive Toothpaste

[1][2] Auergesellschaft used thorium and rare-earth elements in making industrial products including mantles for gas lanterns; the toothpaste was produced as a byproduct.

[1] Its radioactive content was promoted as imparting health benefits, including antibacterial action and a contribution to strengthening the "defenses of teeth and gums".

[3] The company promised radiantly white teeth and bacterial extraction due to the ionizing radiation of the radioactive substances.

Only after the atomic bombs were used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the potential effects of ionizing radiation recognized; thus, the toothpaste's claims were invalid.

However, after Allied agents captured and investigated a German chemical company's representative, it was revealed that the scientists were not seeking to develop an atomic bomb at all; rather, they were attempting to make thorium toothpaste.

According to physicist Samuel Goudsmit in a 1947 issue of Time, the German chemical company's officials had realized that, at the end of the war, they would no longer be able to make money producing wartime equipment such as gas masks or carbons for searchlights, and they decided cosmetic products would be their best option for future sales.