Search the web and
you’ll find a half dozen medical-related web sites containing shrill warnings
about the supposed dangers of colloidal silver usage.
They’ll claim it
causes everything from organ failure to death.
But in virtually every case, these web sites are run by individuals or
companies associated with Big Pharma.
What do they have in
common? It’s simple: They’re wrong. While the death toll from Big Phama’s drugs
continues to skyrocket year after year, deaths from colloidal silver usage
remain at ZERO.
Here’s the straight
scoop you won’t find anywhere else…
Hi, Steve Barwick here, for The Silver Edge…
At the end of every year the American Association of Poison
Control Centers publishes their Annual Report in the journal Clinical
Toxicology, in which they document the number of deaths for the previous year associated with various substances.
So in December 2015 they published the results for the year
2014.
The report covers everything from prescription drugs to
vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutritional supplements, and even to
household items like bleach or bug poison.
And every year there are ZERO deaths from colloidal
silver. Every. Single. Year.
On the other hand, for the sake of comparison, under the
category “Dietary Supplements/Herbals, Homeopathic/Amino Acids” you can find
the following notations for 2014:
·
The mineral iron was credited with causing one death.
·
An unnamed “energy product” was credited with
causing two deaths.
·
An unnamed “multi-botanical” product was created
with causing one death.
·
And an unnamed “single ingredient botanical
supplement” was credited with causing one
death.
·
And vitamins caused no deaths whatsoever.
So based on these numbers, colloidal silver usage is as safe as vitamin usage, and safer than
just about any other category of nutritional supplement.
Compared to Medical
Deaths
Keep in mind there are tens of millions of nutritional
supplement users in the U.S. And cumulatively
speaking, billions of doses of
nutritional supplements – including colloidal silver -- are taken each year in
this country.
Yet the annual death toll from supplements remains…well…negligible, to say the least. Indeed, you can count them on one hand.
On the other hand, however, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association
(i.e., the Starfield study, “Is U.S. Health Really the Best in the World?”), every
year in the US there are an astonishing 225,000 medically-caused deaths, including:
·
12,000 deaths from unnecessary surgeries;
·
7,000 deaths from medication errors in
hospitals;
·
20,000 deaths from other errors in hospitals;
·
80,000 deaths from infections acquired in
hospitals;
·
106,000 deaths from FDA-approved correctly
prescribed medicines.
That’s a total of 225,000 medically caused deaths each and every year in the U.S. That's 2.25
MILLION deaths per decade.
So the next time you read one of those news articles with
screaming headlines about how “unsafe” nutritional supplements are, and how
badly they need to be “regulated like drugs by the FDA”…
… ask yourself if you really
want the FDA involved in “regulating” something so safe, you can quite
literally count the number of annual deaths on one hand.
There are quite literally tens of millions of dedicated nutritional supplement users in the U.S., collectively gulping down billions of doses per year of their favorite supplements.
There are quite literally tens of millions of dedicated nutritional supplement users in the U.S., collectively gulping down billions of doses per year of their favorite supplements.
And the death toll for these supplements in a bad year
is: five. The previous year (2013) there were actually zero deaths from nutritional supplements
of any kind.
Yet the medical community continues to kill some 106,000
men, women and children each year with prescription drugs, and another 119,000
people per year with surgery and other
medical interventions, including medical errors.
But it’s the supplements that are always under attack with shrills cries for greater regulation, and never Big Pharma and the medical
community.
Go figure.
Colloidal Silver
Naysayers
Of course, you’re always going to have shills for Big Pharma
knocking colloidal silver.
For example, on the infamous WebMD.com site – a site that
routinely promotes Big Pharma drugs and medical interventions -- you’ll find
the following shrill negative statement about colloidal silver:
"People believe that colloidal silver can treat fungal infections, TB, HIV, herpes, and even cancer by boosting the immune system," says Ted Epperly, MD, president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Unfortunately
for colloidal sliver supporters, they're wrong, and the consequences of their
mistake could be costly.
"One
of the most well-known side effects of colloidal silver is that it turns a
person's skin a greyish shade of blue," says Epperly.
The
skin isn't the only organ affected by colloidal silver; so are the
kidneys, stomach, and brain, as well as the nervous system.
Silver
is actually deposited into the cells of these organs, possibly causing cell
damage and death, leading to organ failure.
"The
effects of colloidal silver are toxic and cumulative," says Epperly.
"Worse, they're irreversible."
Scary, right? Those
are actually the very same talking points you’ll find on other Big Pharma
oriented websites, as well, such as MayoClinic.com and even the notorious
Quackbusters.org.
Indeed, that’s a pretty typical comment on the supposed “dangers” of colloidal silver from supporters of Big Pharma. So let’s analyze it, line-by-line, and see where it holds water, and where it doesn’t.
Indeed, that’s a pretty typical comment on the supposed “dangers” of colloidal silver from supporters of Big Pharma. So let’s analyze it, line-by-line, and see where it holds water, and where it doesn’t.
Truth v/s Fiction
His first charge against colloidal silver is as follows is
that people take it to boost immunity so their body can better fight off
infections and disease. And he ominously
warns “they’re wrong, and the consequences of their mistake could be costly.”
Here, the good doctor employs a linguistic trick to scare
people. He says people believe colloidal
silver can be used to “treat” certain infections, and even cancer, “by boosting
the immune system.”
Actually, that’s a misnomer.
What people “believe” is that colloidal silver can be used as a
nutritional adjunct to help the body conquer
infectious microbes.
This belief is based on hundreds of clinical studies
that have demonstrated silver’s often astonishing ability to kill pathogens –
even deadly, drug-resistant
super-pathogens.
Indeed, there is no argument against silver’s ability to
kill infectious microbes. It works. It’s been proven hundreds of times in
clinical studies. And you’d have to be willingly blind to ignore the heaping
mountains of clinical data that confirm this fact.
As for boosting immunity, it’s true that modern clinical
studies have not been conducted to demonstrate whether or not colloidal silver can
actually boost the immune system.
Nevertheless, researchers like Dr. Robert O. Becker, M.D. of
Syracuse Medical University, who for years studied the ability of electrically-generated
silver to kill pathogens and heal wounds, has repeatedly claimed to have
noticed a distinct correlation between the amount of silver in one’s body and
the health of the individual -- with healthier people having more silver in
their body and sickly people having lower levels of silver.
Dr. Becker – a surgeon by training, who
conducted ground-breaking research into silver and healing at Syracuse Medical
University -- claims that the lower one’s bodily silver levels are, the more
sickness and disease one is likely to have.
He wrote:
“While analyzing hair samples and
questioning the parties involved, I noticed the correlation between low silver
levels and sickness.
People who showed low silver levels in
their hair analysis were frequently sick. They seemed to have innumerable
colds, flu, fevers, and various other sicknesses.
I believe that a silver deficiency may
be the key to the improper function of the immune system."
What’s more, in his article, “Stop
Supergerms in Their Tracks with One Powerful Silver Bullet,” Harvard-educated
Dr. Jonathan Wright, M.D., of the famous Tahoma Clinic in Washington State has pointed
to older research confirming silver’s ability to boost immunity,:
“In 1909, the Journal of the American
Medical Association was the first medical journal to point out that colloidal silver
could actually increase our immune cells' phagocytic index.
In the past few years, more studies
have shown that silver ions greatly enhance the essential second part of the
phagocytic index-the part where the germ is digested by our immune cells.
This is brought about because silver
ions increase the "digesting juices" (what you know as hydrogen
peroxide) of these immune cells."
And according to clinical researcher
V. Edwards-Jones, writing in Letters in
Applied Microbiology, in an article titled, “The Benefits of Silver in Hygiene,
Personal Care and Healthcare”:
"Silver has been used for
centuries as an antimicrobial agent to reduce bio-burden and prevent infection.
…Increasing evidence of improved
antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles of silver and possible dual
immunomodulatory effects are exciting."
So the evidence that colloidal silver boosts immunity is indeed available.
But WebMD chooses to quote Big Pharma supporter Dr. Ted Epperly
instead of those who have actually
conducted clinical research, or who are familiar with existing clinical research,
or even those who have used colloidal silver themselves in their clinical work.
Let’s take a quick look at the next potshot taken by Dr.
Epperly in his quote published on WebMD.
He claims that one of the “most well-known side effects of colloidal
silver is that it turns a person’s skin a grayish shade of blue.”
Note that Dr. Epperly’s statement is conclusive, and
all-encompassing. He states
matter-of-factly that silver “turns a person’s skin a grayish shade of blue.”
What he doesn’t
point out, however, is the simple fact that, historically speaking, the vast
majority of cases of argyric skin-staining have been caused by the use of
chemically-produced prescription silver compounds given by doctors to their patients.
Comparatively few cases have been caused by the use of safe, natural colloidal silver.
Even in the very few rare cases in which colloidal silver has
been directly involved in argyric skin-staining, it was excessive daily dosages ingested
regularly for months or years on end that have caused the problem.
Why would Dr. Epperly neglect to point out such a well-known
fact?
Why did he try to make it sound as if any colloidal silver usage at all will result in skin
discoloration, when millions upon millions of people around the world use
colloidal silver regularly, in small daily amounts, with no negative effects at
all?
I can’t read Dr. Epperly’s mind, of course. But I’ll bet a dollar to a donut that he
didn’t point it out because his goal is to scare the bejabbers out of people so
they won’t try colloidal silver.
It appears to me he wants people to believe that any colloidal silver usage will turn you
“a grayish shade of blue.”
The truth is this:
Colloidal silver can indeed cause argyric skin-staining. But out of literally millions of colloidal silver users on planet earth today only a dozen or so cases of argyria have been
documented in recent medical literature.
And those all had the same thing in common:
Rather than taking the recommended small daily dosages of
colloidal silver, they used colloidal silver abusively, taking it in ungodly high amounts on a regular daily
basis for months or years on end.
In other words, while Dr. Epperly is correct in stating that
colloidal silver can cause argyric skin-staining, I’d wager $100 that he can’t
bring forth a single individual with
this condition who was taking normal colloidal silver dosages of a teaspoonful
to an ounce a day.
Indeed, I can make that bet with supreme confidence, because
there are zero cases of argyric
skin-staining documented in the medical literature, from people who were taking
the normal recommended daily dosages. Zero.
People who end up with discolored skin from using colloidal
silver are, in virtually every case, those who were taking eight, ten, twelve
or even twenty ounces a day for months or
years on end.
And they’re just about as rare as people who have turned
orange from eating too many carrots (yes, it’s quite possible to do so; the
condition is actually called carotenemia).
The infamous “colloidal silver blue man,” Paul Karason,
admitted on national television that he was taking 10 to 20 ounces of colloidal
silver per day, for ten years, before
he experienced skin-staining. (That, as
opposed to a normal daily adult dosage of one teaspoon per day to an ounce a
day, depending upon body weight.)
In other words, argyria victims who were using colloidal
silver were massively overdosing themselves on it, on a
regular daily basis for years on end.
They weren’t using it at normal levels, but instead, and highly abnormal levels.
But Dr. Epperly doesn’t see fit to mention this. Not even a peep. He apparently wants people
to think any colloidal silver usage
will result in skin discoloration. But
it’s simply not true. Never has been.
(For example, I’ve been using small daily amounts of colloidal silver for 20 years now, and the only thing blue on me is my eyes, and I assure you, I was born that way.)
(For example, I’ve been using small daily amounts of colloidal silver for 20 years now, and the only thing blue on me is my eyes, and I assure you, I was born that way.)
Let’s examine what else Dr. Epperly said in his WebMD
quote. He claims that not only is the
skin affected by colloidal silver, but also “the kidneys, stomach, and brain,
as well as the nervous system.”
He also says silver can be deposited into cells and organs, “leading
to organ failure.”
So where’s the evidence
for this claim?
For example, how many cases of organ failure due to
colloidal silver usage are reported each year, compared to, say, an
over-the-counter drug like Tylenol?
According to DrugWatch.com, “Tylenol overdose is the most common cause of acute liver failure in the
country…it accounts for more than 100,000 calls to poison centers, roughly
60,000 emergency-room visits and hundreds of deaths each year in the United
States. In England, it’s the leading
cause of liver failure requiring transplants.”
Well, isn’t that just wonderful?
Why doesn’t Dr. Epperly mention this? Why does he slam colloidal silver, instead of
Tylenol? Has Dr. Epperly ever even seen a case of organ failure caused
by colloidal silver usage?
The fact is, I’ve only been able to find two documented cases of organ damage caused
by colloidal silver usage in the past 20 years, and in both of those cases the individuals were taking excessively high
amounts, and were also on long-term prescription drugs known to cause toxicity
in the human body.
In his book, “Colloidal Silver, a Literature Review,” Dr.
John Hill, D.C., reveals the following:
“Critics
of colloidal silver sometimes state that it has been known to cause organ
damage, kidney damage, pulmonary edema, atherosclerosis and death.
“These
claims appear to be based on a research study on dogs in which the dogs were
deliberately killed by extremely large lethal doses of silver.
“At
the doses given, any metal and probably many essential minerals like zinc,
iron, copper, etc. would have produced death in similar fashion."
And as Dr. Alan B.G. Lansdown, Britain’s foremost expert on
the medical use of silver has stated in his book, Silver in Healthcare: It’s Antimicrobial Efficacy and Safety in
Use”:
“…few
examples exist to show that silver accumulation in any tissue is a cause of
cytogenicity, mutagenicity or functional disturbances.”
But Dr. Epperly ignores the evidence and doubles down on his
contentions by claiming:
"The
effects of colloidal silver are toxic and cumulative. Worse, they're irreversible."
Wrong again. As Alan
B.G. Lansdown has stated in his ground-breaking book, “Silver in
Healthcare: It’s Antimicrobial Efficacy
and Safety in Use”:
“..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…
“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…
Silver
is not known to be a cumulative toxin…”
Lansdown goes on to say, “Silver does not enter neurological tissues and is not neurotoxic as has
been supposed by several case studies.”
What’s more, the Dartmouth University Toxic Metals Research
Program states:
"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."
So it looks like Dr. Epperly is…well…basically wrong on all counts. All wet.
Not a leg to stand on. And
sinking in the quicksand of his own shrill hyperbolic rhetoric.
But his quote on WebMD.com is indeed a glaring example of
how Big Pharma shills try to demonize colloidal silver usage.
Just remember: There
have been ZERO deaths each year from colloidal silver usage, even with millions
of users nationally, and tens of millions of users worldwide.
But there are 225,000 documented deaths per year from prescription
drugs and medical interventions such as those practiced by Dr. Epperly and his
compatriots in the medical community.
Hmmm. Which would you
trust more?
Get
Educated
If
you’re new to colloidal silver usage, and would like to learn more, here are
some suggested resources:
Learn
to Make Your Own
Colloidal
Silver for Pennies…
Colloidal
silver can be purchased at just about any local health food store, or through a
number of online sources including Amazon.com.
However,
it’s quite literally one of the most expensive and heavily marked-up natural
supplements in existence.
Health
food store owners, for example, often charge as much as $20-$30 for a tiny
four-ounce bottle. Yet the
cost to manufacture four ounces of colloidal silver is about 12 cents. Yes, I said twelve cents.
O course, people are willing to
pay through the nose for colloidal silver, since it’s safe and natural, and works
so well against infections and related diseases.
But thankfully,
there’s no need to pay such exorbitant prices for colloidal silver, when you
can make your own, quickly and easily, in the comfort and privacy of your own
home, for about 36 cents a
quart.
Yes, you can make it yourself for its actual cost, and altogether skip the high mark-ups charged by health food stores!
Yes, you can make it yourself for its actual cost, and altogether skip the high mark-ups charged by health food stores!
If
you’re interested in learning how to make your own high-quality colloidal
silver at home, for about 36
cents a quart, here are some additional short articles you might want to
take a look at:
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,
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.
Copyright 2016 | Life & Health Research Group, LLC | PO Box
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