Shoe stores once X-rayed children just to sell sneakers. ☢️ . . . From the 1920s into the 1950s, customers placed their feet inside shoe-fitting fluoroscopes and watched their bones glow on a screen. Some machines offered 3 viewing ports so a child, parent and salesperson could look together. The sales gimmick delivered real radiation with every fitting.
Source
Smithsonian Magazine, 2012, 'When X-Rays Were All the Rage, a Trip to the Shoe Store Was Dangerously Illuminating'
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