This comes as no
surprise, of course, to anyone with common-sense. After all, silver originates from the
environment in the first place.
So when small amounts
of antimicrobial silver leach from a consumer product and end up in the
environment, it’s only being returned to its original source. And it simply integrates harmlessly back into
the very environment from which it came.
Mother nature has a
way of dealing with it.
That’s because silver
has a high affinity for other natural substances such as biological silica, salts, sulfur and other common soil and water minerals. And as it bonds with these minerals in the
soil or water, its powerful antimicrobial qualities are largely neutralized. It become inert, just as it was before it was
originally taken from the environment.
A brand new study published in the
journal Environmental Science & Technology bears this out. Here’s the inside story the radical,
anti-silver environmentalists hope you’ll never see…
Hi, Steve Barwick here, for TheSilverEdge.com…
For years now the anti-silver environmentalists have been
screaming from the rooftops that antimicrobial silver nanoparticles need to be
removed from consumer products and regulated into oblivion because they
represent a dire “threat to the environment.”
Environmental groups like Friends of the Earth (FOE) have
even called for the banning
of all colloidal silver products, claiming they should be regulated as
drugs.
Since 2008, massive online propaganda campaigns have been
launched by the radical anti-silver environmentalists against the use of silver
nanoparticles in consumer products (see “In Defense of Silver Nanoparticles” at
this link).
And the anti-silver environmentalists have even gone so far
as to claim that the use of antimicrobial silver in consumer products is
“killing the planet” and contributing to global warming (see “Enviros Claim
Silver Usage is Killing the Planet” at this link).
As a result, the EPA cracked down on the use of silver
nanoparticles in consumer goods, to the point that most of them have been
removed from the market (see “How Environmentalists Are Destroying the Market
for Antimicrobial Silver” at this
link).
This has prevented consumers from enjoying the antimicrobial
benefits of nanosilver in hundreds of consumer products such as computer
keyboards, cell phones, food containers, kitchen cutting boards and other items
upon which high levels of pathogens are often found (see “Colloidal Silver: the
Safe, Natural, Non-Toxic Home Disinfectant” at this
link).
Sensationalistic
Nonsense
Of course, when you thoughtfully examine the numerous articles
and studies published by the anti-silver environmentalists, you’ll find they’re
usually full of sensationalistic speculation and very short on facts or
reliable independent data.
Their consistent use of empty, yet ominous-sounding weasel
words like “unknown risk,” “potential harm,” or “grave concerns” is pervasive.
And their use of junk science (i.e., such as when they soaked tiny minnows in
buckets full of silver nanoparticles at concentrations that would never be
found in nature in order to produce a toxic reaction, or when they slathered
silver nanoparticles all over tiny
albino mice in order to produce a toxic reaction) has been so egregious,
other scientists have even called
them out for it and demanded they start practicing good science.
But these kinds of sensationalistic tactics are used by the
anti-silver environmentalists because they simply don’t have the data to back
up their shrill claims against silver.
It’s all rank speculation.
Worse yet, it appears many of these anti-silver
environmentalist groups are funded, often to the tune of millions of dollars,
by charitable foundations set up by Big Pharma (see “Big Drug Companies Fund
Groups Behind Plot to Regulate Nanosilver” at this link).
Much Ado About
Nothing
Of course, for all of the shrill and hyperbolic
sky-is-falling warnings being promulgated by the anti-silver environmentalists
since they first launched their anti-silver propaganda campaigns in 2008, it’s
all turned out to be, in Shakespeare’s words, “much ado about nothing.”
For example, the environmentalists claimed nanosilver from
consumer products would leach into rivers and streams and hurt fish and other
wildlife.
But independent researchers found that to be largely
untrue, with harm to fish or other aquatic life being minimal at best. Instead, quite the opposite, silver appears
to be quite helpful to fish and other aquatic wildlife.
Indeed, consumers began using
colloidal silver to save their tropical fish from skin problems.
What’s more, products like TetraMedica
FungiStop (consisting of colloidal silver) have become popular with
tropical fish hobbyists throughout Europe, who use it to save their expensive tropical
fish collections from being devastated by bacterial, viral and fungal
infections.
And Vietnamese shrimp farmers began using
nanosilver to prevent viral and bacterial infections from destroying their
shrimp crops.
Finally, nanosilver was even demonstrated to boost the
hatchability rate of trout eggs and the survival rate of the hatchlings in
aquaculture environments. It did so by
inhibiting the growth rate of bacteria and fungi that often decimate eggs and
hatchling populations.
Environmentalists then switched gears and claimed nanosilver,
being found in the soil, would harm plants and reduce crop yields.
But in a study published
in the March 2010 issue of the journal Mycobiology,
researchers found that applying varying levels of silver nanoparticles to the
roots of green onion plants completely eradicated fungal infections known to
destroy the plants.
What’s more, the silver caused no harm whatsoever to
beneficial soil microbes needed by the green onion plants for growth, nor was
there any negative change in the soil chemistry or composition.
Finally, once the nanosilver-treated green onion plants were
harvested, they were demonstrated to have grown larger and to weigh more than
the non-treated green onion plants.
But none of that seems to make any difference to the radical,
anti-silver environmentalists.
Once more, they simply switched gears and began to claim
that once nanosilver enters an aquatic environment, such as rivers, lakes,
streams, oceans or even wastewater treatment plants, it retain its toxicity to
microbes, and thus poses a dire threat to the micro-ecology of all aquatic
bodies.
But in July, 2012, in a study titled “Effect of
light on toxicity of nanosilver to Tetrahymena pyriformis,” published in the
journal of Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry, researchers found that nanosilver loses much of its toxicity in
any aquatic environment, as soon as it’s exposed to light.
Indeed, after only 24 hours of exposure to light, nanosilver
demonstrated 33.7% reduced toxicity in terms of its ability to inhibit the
microorganism tested. This demonstrates that exposure to light alone reduces the toxicity of silver
nanoparticles.
What’s more, the study authors point out that after 24 hours of exposure to light, the
silver nanoparticles began to coagulate (i.e., bond together) into larger
particle agglomerates.
This in turn further decreased their toxicity by
dramatically reducing the available surface area (i.e., the number of
individual silver particles become far fewer as more and more particles bond
together into large “clumps”).
According to the researchers, as the silver nanoparticles
agglomerated, they began to release silver ions at a much slower pace than
usual, and released far fewer of the ions as well, which are critical to
silver’s toxicity to microbes. This reduced
release of silver ions decreased toxicity of the nanosilver even further.
The researchers also found that the bulk agglomeration of
the silver nanoparticles to minerals and other natural substances in the water caused
some of the nanosilver to begin falling to the bottom of the aquatic
environment, thus decreasing the number of silver nanoparticles in the water
itself.
This is exactly what advocates of the use of nanosilver in
consumer products have said all along, i.e., in real-world conditions, upon
exposure to normal environmental realities, nanosilver rapidly begins to lose
its “nano” characteristics along with much of its toxicity.
Finally, in April 2013, Swiss scientists working for the country’s
National Research Programme threw environmentalists into fits with their study demonstrating
the simple fact that barely any nanosilver from consumer products ends up in
wastewater or other waterways, and what little does is “quickly transformed
into less problematic substances on its way to the wastewater treatment
plant.”
What’s more, of the small amount of nanosilver that actually
makes it to wastewater treatment plants, 95% rapidly becomes bound in sewage
sludge.
The bottom line is this:
Far from being a threat to the ecology, nanosilver simply goes back to
being a harmless part of the very environment from which it was originally
taken.
So one-by-one, the shrill claims of the radical anti-silver
environmentalists have largely been decimated by independent studies as well as
government-sponsored studies.
Brand New Study: Nanosilver Doesn’t Harm Environment
Now, a brand new study, titled “The Impact of Silver
Nanoparticles on the Composting of Municipal Solid Waste,” published in December
2013 in the journal Environmental Science
& Technology, has put what I hope will be the final nail in the coffin
of the radical, anti-silver environmentalists.
You see, in the U.S., municipal solid waste from wastewater
treatment plants is often composted, turned into fertilizer, and then sold to
farmers for use on their fields.
But the radical anti-silver environmentalists contend that
when silver, which has leached into the environment from consumer products,
ends up in municipal solid waste, it kills off the bacteria needed to compost
the waste and convert it to fertilizer.
But in this latest study, researchers examined the effects
of silver nanoparticles on “the composting of municipal solid waste” and found
that “…functional performance was not significantly affected…” when silver
nanoparticles were added.
In other words, when silver nanoparticles were added to the
composting waste products, the physical quality of the compost was not
significantly different from the compost made without the addition of silver nanoparticles.
This means the added silver nanoparticles did not destroy
the bacteria needed to bio-degrade the waste material into fertilizer for
farming. Instead, the nanosilver simply
integrated itself into the waste material and became largely inert as it bonded with other
substances.
Indeed, the researchers found that the silver nanoparticles
were fairly rapidly transformed to less toxic compounds at the soil
surface. And toxicity was further
reduced as the silver continued to “complex with organic matter.”
Of course, this is what I’ve been saying for years:
Nanosilver simply integrates harmlessly back into the very
environment from which it originally came by bonding to natural substances such
as biological silica, salts, sulfur and
other common soil and water minerals.
Once returned to the environment, the silver is no more
“harmful to the environment” than it was the day it was first mined.
As the journal Science
explained, regarding the new study, in their December 2013 issue:
“[Researchers]
analyzed the impact that realistic low levels of silver nanoparticles had on
the microbial communities responsible for biodegrading disposed organic matter
during composting.
In
compost treated with nanosilver or free silver ions, the species present in the
bacterial communities differed from a control reactor without any added silver;
however,
the physical properties of the aged compost and the leachate were nearly
identical between treatments.”
In other words, when realistic levels of nanosilver were
added to a batch of solid waste materials about to be composted, the bacterial
species present during the composting process appeared to differ slightly from
that of the batch of solid waste materials being composted with no nanosilver
was added.
But the end result,
which is to say, the physical quality of both batches of compost, were virtually
identical. So the added nanosilver had no detrimental impact on the microbial
biodegradation of the waste materials.
According to the researchers, “The results of this study
further suggest that at relatively low concentrations, the organically rich
waste management systems’ functionality may not be influenced by the presence
of AgNPs.”
In other words, in plain English, the presence of silver
nanoparticles in solid waste material won’t stop microbes from composting the
materials and turning it into fertilizer.
Over 120 Years, and
No Harm Yet
As I pointed out in a previous article,
“Nanosilver – Nothing New, and Not
Harmful to the Environment in Over 120 Years of Use,” while nanosilver has been
around for well over a century, and has been widely used in everything from
consumer products to swimming pools, spas, hot tubs and even municipal water
systems, there’s simply no historical basis for claims that it’s a “threat to
the environment.”
As researcher Bernd Nowack pointed out several years ago in
the journal Science, more than 90% of
silver nanoparticles that make their way into sewage treatment plants, “remain
bound in the sewage sludge in the form of silver sulfide, a substance which is
extremely insoluble and orders of magnitude less toxic than free silver
ions.”
Silver Is Ubiquitous
in the Environment
The bottom line is that silver is naturally ubiquitous in
the environment.
It’s in every river, lake or stream. It’s in the oceans. It’s in every glass of
water you drink. It’s in the water in
every shower or bath you take. It’s in
your food. And silver is everywhere
throughout the earth, as well, including the very soil your food crops are
grown in.
It exists mostly as “trace silver” – literally millions of
TONS of tiny microscopic and sub-microscopic silver particles which abound in
the world’s oceans, lakes, rivers and streams, as well in the ground and even
in the air your breath.
Earth even makes its own nanosilver,
quite prolifically, by the way, whenever deposited mineral silver comes into
contact with humic acid from dead, rotting leaves and other organic
materials.
And in all of this time, since the very day you were born, all
of this silver in the environment has never harmed you. So be sure take the
shrill cries of the anti-silver environmentalists with a healthy grain of salt.
And don’t fall for their sensationalistic nonsense.
The earth is not coming to a premature end due to the
presence of silver nanoparticles, which in reality, have been here since the
beginning of time.
Heck, for all we know, silver nanoparticles might be one of
the few things preserving this old
earth. But don’t mention that to the radical, anti-silver environmentalists,
unless of course, you want to see their collective heads spin.
Learn to Make Your Own Colloidal Silver
Inevitably, when the subject of colloidal silver comes up,
the radical, anti-silver environmentalists can’t help but scream that it should
be regulated and banned,
just as they want to regulate and ban nanosilver in consumer products, as well.
Colloidal silver is now one of the most popular nutritional
supplements on the face of the earth, largely because of its ability to help
kill infectious microorganisms and heal infections of all sorts, both internally
and externally. (For example, see “Colloidal
Silver versus Cold and Flu Viruses, at this
link.)
It can be found in virtually every well-stocked health food
store in the U.S., Canada, Mexico. But it’s already been banned in Europe – it cannot
be sold there as a dietary supplement (though some enterprising companies still
sell it there as a “water disinfectant”).
And, of course, the radical, anti-silver environmentalists
would love to see it banned, here in the U.S, too.
Thankfully, you don’t have to depend upon health food stores
in order to obtain colloidal silver anytime you want it. Indeed, high-quality colloidal silver can be
made at home, quickly and easily, for just pennies
per batch.
In fact, making your own high-quality colloidal silver is extremely
simple, particularly if you have a new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver
Generator from The Silver Edge.
The new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The
Silver Edge allows you to make all of the high-quality colloidal silver you
could ever need, any time you need it, for the rest of your life, and for less
than 36 cents a quart (compared to exorbitant health food store prices
of $20 to $30 for a tiny, four-ounce bottle).
You can learn 7 Good Reasons to Make Your Own
Colloidal Silver Rather Than Purchasing Commercial Brands at this link.
You can also learn How to Choose the Best Colloidal
Silver Generator, at this link.
And you can discover How Owning a Colloidal Silver Generator
Benefits Your Entire Family, at this link.
Finally, you can read customer reviews of the new
Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator at the link in this
sentence.
And you can download my FREE 30-page Colloidal Silver Safe
Dosage Report at the link in this sentence.
So don’t let the radical, anti-silver environmentalists
spoil it for you. By obtaining a
high-quality Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge,
you’ll always have access to
colloidal silver, whenever you need it.
If you’re interested in learning how to make your own
high-quality colloidal
silver, you can read more about the Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver
Generator at the link in this sentence.
Meanwhile, I’ll be back next week with another great article
on colloidal silver…
Yours for the safe, sane and responsible
use of colloidal silver,
Steve Barwick, author
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
Helpful Links:
Important Note and
Disclaimer: The contents of this Ezine have not been
evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Information conveyed herein is from sources deemed to be accurate and
reliable, but no guarantee can be made in regards to the accuracy and reliability
thereof. The author, Steve Barwick, is a
natural health journalist with over 30 years of experience writing
professionally about natural health topics.
He is not a doctor. Therefore, nothing stated in this Ezine
should be construed as prescriptive in nature, nor is any part of this Ezine
meant to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice. Nothing reported herein is intended to
diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
The author is simply reporting in journalistic fashion what he has
learned during the past 17 years of journalistic research into colloidal silver
and its usage. Therefore, the
information and data presented should be considered for informational purposes
only, and approached with caution.
Readers should verify for themselves, and to their own satisfaction,
from other knowledgeable sources such as their doctor, the accuracy and
reliability of all reports, ideas, conclusions, comments and opinions stated
herein. All important health care
decisions should be made under the guidance and direction of a legitimate,
knowledgeable and experienced health care professional. Readers are solely responsible for their
choices. The author and publisher
disclaim responsibility and/or liability for any loss or hardship that may be
incurred as a result of the use or application of any information included in
this Ezine.
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2014 | Life & Health Research Group, LLC | PO Box 1239 | Peoria AZ
85380-1239 | All rights reserved.
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