Ne’er a week goes by
that someone doesn’t send me a link to another online article bashing colloidal
silver usage.
Usually, these
articles are written by some shill for Big Pharma, or by a reporter who’s been
assigned the unenviable task of writing an anti-silver article by his (or her) editor
who’s trying to please their drug company advertisers.
But sometimes, the
article appears to be written by someone who’s simply been taken in by the
sensationalistic nonsense and propaganda being propagated by either of the
above two.
Regardless of the
source, these anti-colloidal silver articles usually cause quite a stir among
newer colloidal silver users. So from
time-to-time I’ll dissect one of the articles, just so colloidal silver users
can see the factual misrepresentations and false claims for what they really are.
This week, I’m taking
a look at one such article titled “Why I Never Consume Colloidal Silver,” which
has been brought to my attention by several readers. See if you agree with my analysis of the
article, below…
Hi,
Steve Barwick here, for TheSilverEdge.com…
Several
readers have drawn my attention to an article on the internet titled “Why I
Never Consume Colloidal Silver,” written by a lady who calls herself “Sarah The
Healthy Home Economist.”
Basically,
her contention is that while colloidal silver is admittedly a good natural antimicrobial
substance, she would never swallow the stuff because…
a.) it’s a heavy metal,
b.) it accumulates in the body, and
c.) it destroys the body’s beneficial
intestinal micro-flora, meaning the good bacteria our bodies depend upon for
digestion, assimilation, enzyme production and much more.
Now
over the course of my nearly 20 years’ worth of daily colloidal silver usage,
I’ve heard each of these claims against colloidal silver over and over again, ad nauseum. And I’ve refuted them enough times already
that nowadays I just ignore them. After
all, everybody’s got a right to their own opinion.
But
this lady quoted me as an authority,
to back up her main claim that silver destroys the beneficial micro-flora in
the human body. And she claims this is
her #1 reason for never swallowing a drop of colloidal silver.
So
since she quoted me as an authority, I feel it necessary to clarify my opinion
on this matter. And in the process, I’ll
also discuss her anti-colloidal silver claims, one-by-one. You can read her sensationalistic, sky-is-falling
article here,
first, if you’d like.
Debunking the Claims
The
first claim made by “Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” is that silver is a
"heavy metal that accumulates in the body over time,” and that it’s the
same as lead, cadmium and aluminum.
That's
actually a two-part claim, i.e., first, that silver is a heavy metal, and second,
that it accumulates in the human body.
So let’s look more closely at the two parts of this claim.
The
first part of her claim is absolutely untrue. Silver is not a “heavy metal.” It’s a NOBLE metal, like platinum, gold and
copper. It always has been. And it always will be.
As
stated in the April 2010 issue of Journal
of Materials Engineering and Performance:
"Noble metals
such as copper, gold, and silver have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity.
For example, silver
has several effects on microorganisms, including impeding the electron
transport system and preventing DNA replication...
…In previous studies,
silver has demonstrated antimicrobial activity against a broad range of fungi,
viruses, and bacteria."
It’s
a common misconception that silver is a “heavy metal.” But it’s been refuted enough times that
people who continue to make this claim should know better by now.
Finally,
if silver were a heavy metal, would surgeons use it in implants to help prevent
infectious microorganisms from colonizing the implant? Of course not.
Yet
silver is now one of the most commonly used metals on implants, thanks to its
well-known lack of toxicity, it’s long-term safety record, and of course its
powerful infection fighting capabilities.
According to this website, silver is used now in numerous implant technologies, including:
According to this website, silver is used now in numerous implant technologies, including:
- Neuro-surgery
shunts
- Urology
catheters
- Orthopaedic
implants
- Suturing
material
- Bone plates and
screws
So
the idea that silver is a “heavy metal” is ludicrous at best.
After
making the blunder of calling colloidal silver a “heavy metal,” “Sarah The Healthy
Home Economist” then tries to link colloidal silver to heavy metal toxicity by quoting from a book on how
to avoid toxic metals.
But
silver intake has never been related
to toxicity. Indeed, people in India eat
silver by the ton – over 300 tons
every single year -- as part of their cultural tradition of wrapping candies in
thinly beaten pure silver foil and eating the candy foil and all.
And
silver toxicity has never been reported from this practice in the hundreds of
years the Indians have carried on their silver-eating tradition. (See "Is
Silver a Toxic Heavy Metal?" for more information).
As
a recent white paper published in the journal, Food Additives and Contaminants points out:
“A recent paper by Das et al. provides the
remarkable datum that some 275,000 kg [300 tons -- ED] of edible metallic
silver foil are consumed every year (in food) in India.
No known adverse health effects have ever
been recorded. This epidemiological evidence that silver as a metal is not
toxic in any way needs no further comment.
Further support for the obvious safety of
consuming metallic silver (Ag0) is in the worldwide consumption of (so called)
silver colloids, often made at home in primitive electrochemical cells by
probably some millions of citizens, again with no ill effects.”
-- Das, M. Dixit, S. Khanna, S. K., Food Additives and Contaminants
So
the entire idea that silver is a toxic heavy metal is also ludicrous at face
value. If it were, virtually the entire population of India – men, women and children
alike – would suffer from heavy metal toxicity and its very serious
consequences.
A Glaring Half-Truth
The
second part of this lady’s claim is, at best, a half-truth. She says
colloidal silver "accumulates in the body."
Well,
it’s true. Silver does accumulate in the body.
But only if excessive amounts
of silver are ingested on a regular basis over long periods of time so that the
body's normal mechanism for eliminating silver becomes overwhelmed.
As
long as common sense dosages are used ("moderation in all things" as
your mother likely told you) the body's mechanism for eliminating silver is
extremely effective.
As
stated in a position paper on silver by the Dartmouth University Toxic Metals
Research Program, over 99% of ingested silver is excreted by the body:
"Trace amounts
of silver are in the bodies of all humans and animals. We normally take in
between 70 and 88 micrograms of silver a day, half of that amount from our
diet.
Humans have evolved
with efficient methods of dealing with that intake, however. Over 99 percent is
readily excreted from the body.
Is silver harmful to
humans?
Unlike other metals
such as lead and mercury, silver is not toxic to humans and is not known to
cause cancer, reproductive or neurological damage, or other chronic adverse
effects."
And
as Dr. Alan Lansdown, Britain's foremost expert on silver has pointed out on
many occasions, the idea that silver intake results in cumulative toxicity in
the human body is simply and decidedly untrue:
“Contrary to
statements that all forms of silver are cumulative once they enter body tissues
and that very little is excreted, silver is actively metabolized in the
human body and a large part eliminated eventually via the liver, urine and hair...
…there is very little
substantive evidence that silver acts either as a cumulative poison in the
human body like lead and mercury, or that it reaches toxic levels in any tissue...”
-- “Silver in Healthcare: Its Antimicrobial Efficacy and Safety in
Use,” by Alan B. G. Lansdown, pg. 45, 59, 60
Lansdown
points out in another section of his book that silver does “accumulate preferentially
in the basement membrane region of the dermis” (i.e., the inner layer of the
two main layers that make up the skin).
Anyone
who’s in the least bit familiar with colloidal silver usage knows that. It’s a form of skin-staining called argyria.
But
once again, argyria happens only when
excessive dosages of colloidal silver are taken for long periods of time.
If
the body’s normal channels of elimination for silver are overwhelmed by
excessive silver usage, the body will gradually send the silver out to the skin
where it tarnishes upon exposure to light, and stains the skin a bluish-gray
color.
I’ve
harped on this fact over
and over and
over and over again in previous
articles. And I’ve always urged
colloidal silver users to exercise moderation and common sense in their oral
colloidal silver intake in order to prevent even the slightest chance of
argyria.
In
this regard, however, it’s important to note that in the recent double-blind
colloidal silver human ingestion study conducted last year at the
University of Utah, no signs of silver accumulation were found.
Indeed,
the human subjects were given normal daily amounts of colloidal silver for up
to half a month before being extensively tested using some of the most
sophisticated clinical equipment available.
And
the clinical researchers found no signs
of silver accumulation (i.e., argyria) whatsoever, nor any signs of any kind of
harm whatsoever, from daily ingestion of normal amounts of colloidal
silver.
That’s
important, because it demonstrates that normal daily usage of colloidal silver
is generally extremely safe and does not result in argyria or cause any other harm.
Does Silver Harm
Beneficial Digestive
Bacteria?
Finally,
“Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” states that the "biggest reason"
of all to avoid ingesting colloidal silver is that it can "can decimate
beneficial bacteria in the gut."
Once
again, that's a half truth. It can certainly decimate beneficial bacteria
in the gut if excessive amounts are used. This is also something I’ve pointed out many
times in the past.
But
normal daily levels of colloidal silver have never been demonstrated to "decimate beneficial
bacteria." Indeed, there’s not a
single clinical study demonstrating such harm from normal colloidal silver
usage.
And
experts believe that’s because most colloidal silver is absorbed from the
stomach directly into the bloodstream and then sent to other parts of the body,
thereby bypassing the intestinal tract where the greatest number of our body's
beneficial microbes reside -- up to an astonishing seven pounds worth.
Nevertheless,
“Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” goes on to quote me as saying the following in a blog post I wrote about colloidal
silver and beneficial microbes:
"But
the truth is, colloidal silver does indeed act as a broad spectrum natural
antibiotic. As such, if enough mineral silver reaches the intestinal tract it
most certainly can kill off the friendly (i.e., beneficial) bacteria that
thrive there.
Colloidal silver
simply has no way of knowing a beneficial microbe from an infectious microbe.
If the microbe is sensitive to silver, then silver will kill it whether it is a
beneficial microbe or an infectious one."
And
that's certainly true. But read it
again. What I actually stated was
"...IF ENOUGH MINERAL SILVER REACHES THE INTESTINAL TRACT..."
Yes,
then, and only then, could ingestion
of colloidal silver potentially result in some of the beneficial microbes in
the intestinal tract being harmed.
But
because colloidal silver is absorbed largely in the stomach and then sent into
the blood stream, it mostly bypasses
the intestinal tract where most beneficial digestive microbes reside.
Indeed,
very little colloidal silver makes it into the intestines. But even if a full dose were to make it into
the intestinal tract, it would not be enough to cause any significant harm to
the body’s astonishingly large populations of beneficial digestive microbes.
What
“Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” failed
to quote me as saying, from the same blog post, is this:
"However, taking
small daily doses of colloidal silver is not as problematic in this regard as
you might think. That's because there are anywhere from three to seven pounds
of beneficial microorganisms populating the entirety of the intestinal tract at
any point in time.
So if you are taking
a small daily maintenance dose of colloidal silver – which most researchers put
at about one tablespoon to one ounce a day of 5 ppm to 10 ppm in strength – you
will not kill off very many of the friendly 'gut bugs' that line the intestinal
tract."
Furthermore,
two years ago I updated that older blog post with a newer blog post in which I
state:
"...the average
human body has about seven pounds of beneficial microorganisms in the colon and
spread throughout the large and small intestines.
You're simply not
going to kill off seven pounds of beneficial bacteria with an ounce of
colloidal silver.
And since the
friendly little critters are very prolific at reproducing (they don’t call them
“friendly” microorganisms for nothing!), any die-off is probably replaced
through reproduction with new 'friendlies' before the day is over, particularly
if you eat a good, balanced diet."
So
“Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” used the quote from my original blog post
out-of-context. And she failed to quote
from my follow-up blog post in which I further clarified my position.
In
my opinion, this is disingenuous of her in the least, if not outright
deceptive.
“Zero Risk” Natural
Antibiotics?
“Sarah
The Healthy Home Economist” then goes on to state that rather than using
colloidal silver for internal infections, people should instead use only
"natural plant based antibiotics such as garlic, turmeric, cayenne,
oregano oil etc."
She
further claims these recommended natural plant-based antimicrobials harbor
"zero risk."
Really? Zero risk?
How in the world can that be? Can
she show me a single study demonstrating, for example, that oregano oil --
which she heartily recommends – cannot kill friendly bacteria, or cause other
harm in the body?
Quite
the contrary. Livestrong.com says the
following: "There is no evidence to show that oil of oregano can discriminate
between harmful bacteria and healthy probiotic bacteria in your body. As with
antibiotics, this natural plant oil can lower your levels of good bacteria..."
What’s
more, it’s well known that both cayenne pepper and oregano oil -- which “Sarah
The Healthy Home Economist” claims are “zero risk” natural antimicrobial
substances -- can cause liver or kidney damage when used in excess over long
periods of time.
Additionally,
according to WebMD.com, antimicrobial turmeric can "make gallbladder
problems worse," and "might slow blood clotting."
Even
garlic – a phenomenal natural antimicrobial substance -- "may increase the
risk of bleeding problems" and is contraindicated for anyone with
"bleeding/clotting problems, stomach/abdominal problems (e.g., gut
infections or inflammatory bowel disease)."
Now
you and I both know that all of these
substances are relatively safe when taken in moderation and used with common
sense. Indeed, just like silver, these
natural substances have been used by various cultures for hundreds or even
thousands of years without any kind of harm whatsoever.
Nevertheless,
just like silver, these natural substances all have inherent risks associated with them if they’re
used to excess.
And
any one of the plant-based antimicrobial
substances touted as “zero risk” by “Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” can kill
off at least some of the beneficial bacteria in your colon and intestines.
But
once again, I must emphasize that as with colloidal silver, this is true ONLY
if overly-large amounts of the substance reaches the colon and intestines after
ingestion.
So
plant-based natural antimicrobials are no different than colloidal silver in
terms of their ability to kill off beneficial microbes in the intestinal
tract.
Here’s
the key to the whole dilemma:
You'd
have to take astonishingly large amounts of any of these natural substances – whether
a mineral-based antimicrobial substance like colloidal silver, or a plant-based
antimicrobial substance like garlic, turmeric, oregano oil, etc. – in order to to
get enough of it to coat your entire colon, plus 28 feet worth of small
intestine and large intestine where the vast majority of the beneficial
microbes in your body live.
And even then, it's not like you could kill off all seven POUNDS worth of the beneficial microbes so densely lining the 28 feet of your large and small intestines. That's just plain ludicrous.
And even then, it's not like you could kill off all seven POUNDS worth of the beneficial microbes so densely lining the 28 feet of your large and small intestines. That's just plain ludicrous.
A Teeming Metropolis
You
see, your intestinal tract is like a teeming metropolis of beneficial
microbes. Indeed, it contains more beneficial microbes than your body has
cells. Literally trillions and
trillions of them.
Think
about that. This astonishing number of beneficial
microbes densely lines the entire 28 feet or so of your large and small
intestines. There's not a centimeter of
space in your intestines, in fact, that isn't densely colonized by billions of
these beneficial microbes.
So
it's VERY difficult for natural infection-fighting mineral substances like
colloidal silver, or even plant-based infection-fighting substances, to kill
off a large enough number of your body's beneficial microbes to make a whit of
difference…
…UNLESS
you were using egregiously excessive amounts of the substance, regularly, over
long periods of time.
Then,
the CUMULATIVE effect of such ongoing substance abuse could indeed put a significant
and potentially harmful dent into your intestinal flora. That goes for any natural infection-fighting substance
– not just colloidal silver.
So,
all in all, I find the article written by “Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” disingenuous
at best. Indeed, not one of the plant-based natural antimicrobial
substances she recommends as a “zero risk” substitute for colloidal silver is
without its own inherent risks.
So
in my humble opinion, the lady's argument against colloidal silver usage is the
proverbial "much ado about nothing."
There’s
no natural antimicrobial substance on the face of the earth that doesn’t have some inherent risk at some level of
consumption. But history demonstrates
that normal, common-sense usage of these substances – including silver -- is
generally extremely safe.
The Coming
“Antibiotic Winter”
Finally,
“Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” quotes Dr. Martin Blaser, M.D. -- the
leading proponent of the so-called “antibiotic winter” theory, who basically
claims overuse of antibiotics has reduced man’s natural immunity to infectious
diseases by reducing the numbers of beneficial bacteria in the human intestinal
tract.
She
quotes him as saying, “Early evidence
from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora
never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within
people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and
disease.”
Please
note the words "hints," "sometimes" and "may",
etc., which I’ve underlined above.
Those
are called "weasel words."
They're used when the writer wants to leave a powerful perception in the
reader's mind that may or may not be true.
In other words, there's no decisive
proof of his contention. It’s largely
conjecture, based upon what he refers to as the "early
evidence."
Now,
with that said, I happen to agree
with the good doctor’s opinion.
It’s
indeed quite possible that loss of extensive numbers of one’s beneficial digestive
micro-flora could become permanent, depending upon the circumstances,
particularly if a person were undergoing long-term treatment with prescription antibiotic drugs.
And
such a situation could easily result in serious ill-health consequences over
time.
And
that’s exactly what Dr. Blaser happens to be talking about, i.e., the potential
damage to the body's beneficial microbes caused by excessive PRESCRIPTION
ANTIBIOTIC DRUG USAGE.
He
was not in any way, shape or form referring
to colloidal silver usage, or to the usage of any other natural antimicrobial
substance.
You
can see his book on this topic, called "Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our
Modern Plagues," at this
link on Amazon.com.
Out-of-Context
So
in my opinion, “Sarah The Healthy Home Economist” used the good doctor's quote completely
out-of-context in her article. Or
perhaps better stated, she placed it into a context that was never meant to be
used in by Dr. Blaser.
Indeed,
reading her article, you'd never know she was quoting a doctor who was talking solely
about overuse of prescription antibiotic drugs, because she conveniently left that
out.
Instead,
she left the distinct but incorrect
impression that he was talking about the subject of her article, i.e.,
colloidal silver usage.
Again,
the use of natural antimicrobial
substances (including mineral silver) cannot be compared – in an “apples to
apples” way – to the use of synthetic prescription antibiotic drugs.
As
I pointed out earlier, natural mineral antimicrobial substances like colloidal
silver, and plant-based antimicrobial substances as well, are treated by the
body as nutrition, whereas synthetic
prescription antibiotic drugs are not.
Because
of that, these natural substances are mostly absorbed in the stomach and sent
into the bloodstream to be carried to other parts of the body, thereby largely
bypassing the intestinal tract where the vast majority of one’s beneficial
intestinal microbes reside.
But
synthetic prescription antibiotic drugs are not accepted by the body as
“nutrition.” And because of the way
they’re processed by the body, they affect the whole body at once, and are
widely known to kill off both good and bad bacteria at the same time.
An Interesting
Admission
By
the way, Dr. Blaser also admits that most beneficial bacteria are extremely
prolific reproducers, which has been one of my points all along.
How
prolific? In an article
at CNN.com, he says as few as 50 beneficial bacterial cells can explode to over
a billion in a week. Indeed, Dr. Blaser
admits that even the smallest population of beneficial microbes can double every 12 to 20 minutes,
multiplying by a million percent or more.
So
when natural antimicrobial substances – including a mineral like colloidal
silver or a plant-based substance like garlic – are ingested in moderation, any
small die-off of beneficial microbes that might occur is rapidly made up
for.
Even
if ALL of a natural antimicrobial substance one ingested made it into the
intestinal tract, there’s no way it’s going to kill off enough beneficial
microbes to prevent re-population, unless
astonishingly egregious amounts of the natural antimicrobial substance were
eaten.
If
it were otherwise, then entire human cultures like the Italians who eat fairly large
amounts of antibacterial garlic every single day in their food, would have no
beneficial microbes whatsoever left in their intestinal tracts.
Nor
would people like those of India who ingest large amounts of antibacterial turmeric
spice in their foods on a daily basis, and who eat large amounts of mineral
silver, as well, in their traditional dessert candies.
If
these natural antimicrobial substances were treated by the body in the exact
same way as synthetic prescription antibiotic drugs, these various cultures would
be expected to have decimated their body’s populations of beneficial microbes
by now. And as a result, they’d be suffering
serious disease consequences, based on Dr. Blaser’s theories.
Yet,
to the contrary, the elderly turmeric-eaters of India, for example, have the
world’s lowest rate of Alzheimer’s disease.
And the Mediterranean diet so heartily embraced by the garlic-eating
Italians is well-known to prevent heart and circulatory disease.
Similarly,
the silver-eating Indian culture – which, as I mentioned earlier, consumes
hundreds of tons worth of silver foil
every year – also show no sign of having lower levels of beneficial digestive
bacteria nor higher levels of disease.
Indeed,
these cultures are often considered healthier than our own, simply because of
the health-providing benefits of their diets that are often rich in these
natural antimicrobial substances.
It’s
the prescription antibiotic drug culture
of modern societies that run the risk of destroying their body’s beneficial
micro-flora, and as a result tend to suffer from weaker bodies and lowered immunity. And that’s what Dr. Blaser was talking about.
Not
colloidal silver usage.
Indeed,
I firmly believe most people would dramatically slash their risk of destroying large
portions of their body’s beneficial microbes if they’d simply quit turning to
prescription antibiotic drugs every time they get a sore throat or earache or
cold, and instead use a safe, natural antimicrobial substance like colloidal
silver or even some plant-based antimicrobial substance.
Bad Assumptions…False
Claims
So
to sum up, in my view, the article written by “Sarah The Healthy Home Economist”
which claims oral ingestion of colloidal silver is inherently dangerous, makes
a lot of bad assumptions, and misses a lot of important points.
The
author makes false claims about silver being a "heavy metal"…tries to
associate silver with toxic substances…utilizes a number of half-truths…quotes
experts out-of-context…and even makes decidedly false claims (i.e., the "zero
risk" claim about her recommended herbal substitutes for colloidal silver).
So
the advice in her article is not advice I'd personally take to heart. And based on her article, she’s not necessarily
a person I'd listen to for healthy lifestyle advice.
Using a Probiotic
Supplement
And
by the way, I’ve always recommended that
anytime a person has taken larger-than-normal amounts of any natural antimicrobial
substance -- including colloidal silver, grapefruit seed extract, garlic,
turmeric, oregano oil and others -- that person should, out of an abundance of
caution, supplement with probiotics (i.e., beneficial microorganisms such as
lactobacillus and others).
In
my humble opinion, it’s preferable under such circumstances that people take a
good, high-quality probiotic supplement consisting of a “grid” of different
beneficial microbes such as that found in products like Flora Source or
GR8dophilus by NOW Foods, or a number of others you can find on the internet or
at your local health food store.
Or,
for a good week or two after taking a larger-than-normal course of a natural
antimicrobial substance like colloidal silver, garlic, oregano oil, etc., one
could eat daily portions of probiotic foods known to be teaming with beneficial
microbes, such as yogurt or kefir.
And
that advice goes double if a person
has been on any course of prescription
antibiotic drugs.
The
doomsday “antibiotic winter” scenario spelled out by Dr. Blaser is, by his own
admission, largely due to people indiscriminately taking multiple courses of powerful prescription
antibiotic drugs over long periods of time without
doing anything to help replenish their body’s natural supply of beneficial
microbes.
Because
synthetic prescription antibiotic drugs are not utilized by the body as
“nutrition” (as a mineral or as a plant-based antimicrobial substance would be)
they do have the potential ability to wreak major havoc on the body’s
intestinal populations of beneficial digestive microflora.
The
bottom line, in my opinion, is that use of natural
antimicrobial substances like colloidal silver and others, used in place of
prescription antibiotic drugs, does more to contribute to keeping the body’s
beneficial microbial populations intact than they’ve ever done to harm such populations.
Think
about it. If more people would turn to a
natural substance rather than a prescription antibiotic drug every time they
had a sniffle, cold, ear ache or sore throat, the risk of decimating entire
populations of the body’s beneficial microbes would dramatically diminish.
The
prescription antibiotic drugs are the serious offenders, because they’re not
utilized by the body as nutrition, but instead kill microbes -- good and bad
alike – rapidly and indiscriminately throughout the entire body.
One Last But Very
Important Point
All
of that said, I strongly urge you to read my previous article “Colloidal
Silver and the Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Swindle,” if you want to
understand the real problem causing
today’s rise in antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and by extension, the real problem causing the normal
populations of beneficial microbes in people’s intestines to be artificially
lowered.
The
real problem is with the tons upon
tons of prescription antibiotic drugs that are being fed to cattle, sheep,
pigs, chicken, turkeys and other food animals while they’re being raised.
These
prescription drugs are being fed to the animals not for legitimate health or medical purposes (i.e., not to fight
infections), but instead because it was discovered that antibiotic drugs cause
food animals to fatten up quicker so they can be brought to market sooner.
Getting
the meat to market quicker increases the profits of Big Agriculture by tens of billions of dollars per year,
worldwide.
The
problem is that every single day when you eat meat, you’re also ingesting small
quantities of these antibiotic drugs the animals have been pumped full of on a
regular basis during the entire course of their lives.
And
it’s those small quantities of antibiotic drugs, being ingested by you and
every member of your family every time you eat a hamburger, or a steak, or a
hot dog, or have chicken or turkey or pork chops or veal, etc., that are
causing the problems with declining intestinal flora levels.
Over
13 million tons (yes, that’s 13 million
tons) per year of antibiotic drugs are being pumped into cattle, pigs,
chickens, turkeys and other food animals before they’re sold to us to eat. That’s 80% of all antibiotics manufactured!
And
ingesting these constant low levels of antibiotic drugs in meat cause our
crucial, beneficial intestinal microflora to be slowly killed off.
What’s
more, it also causes any of the hardier pathogens in our bodies, which would
normally be kept in check by our beneficial microbes, to become resistant to
the antibiotic drugs, thus causing the current epidemic of antibiotic-resistant
superbugs.
As
I stated in my above-linked article, “Colloidal
Silver and the Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug Swindle”:
“…the low-dose
antibiotics we’re ingesting through our breakfast, lunch and dinner meats
slowly kill off the good bacteria (i.e., probiotics) our digestion depends
upon, leaving a huge void for the antibiotic-resistant pathogens to step in and
fill, which of course, they do.”
I
go on to state, “The situation has gotten so out-of-hand that the World Health
Organization, the American Medical Association and the American Public Health
Association have all warned about it, explaining that ‘the routine use of
antibiotics in food animals presents
a serious and growing threat to human health.’”
So
the real problem is not colloidal
silver usage, nor the usage of any other natural antimicrobial substance. And frankly, it’s not even the prescription
of antibiotic drugs a person might take once or twice a year when he or she has
a nasty sore throat or other bacterial infection.
Instead,
it’s that constant drip, drip, drip of low-dose prescription antibiotic drugs entering
our bodies on a daily basis through
the meat products we eat, which are drenched in antibiotic drugs that are used as
growth stimulants on commercially raised food animals.
The Simple Solution?
The
only solution I know of at this point, if you’re a meat eater like me, is to
purchase and consume only organic meats which are specifically labeled as being
from farm animals that have had no antibiotics used on them.
Only
then can you be assured that you’re not damaging your body’s intestinal
microflora every time you eat a hamburger, hot dog, turkey sandwich, pork chop or
other meat product.
And
instead of using synthetic prescription antibiotic drugs every time a minor
infection like a cold, the sniffles or a sore throat or earache strike, consider
using natural antimicrobial products instead, such as colloidal silver,
grapefruit seed extract, oregano oil, garlic, turmeric or others whenever
possible.
As
I’ve pointed out throughout this article, they pose far less risk to your
body’s beneficial micro-flora than synthetic antibiotic drugs, because the body
treats and utilizes them as “nutrition,” which they are.
By
using safe, natural colloidal silver or some other natural antimicrobial
substance, within reasonable, common-sense levels, there’s far less risk of
causing serious damage to the body’s normal populations of beneficial
microbes.
For
additional information on this topic, see my previous article, “Does Colloidal Silver Kill Off
Friendly Digestive Bacteria?”
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
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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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