Let’s put to rest a
myth that’s been promulgated for nearly 35 years now, which is to say, the myth
that colloidal silver has been proven to “kill over 650 different pathogens,”
or “cure over 650 different diseases.”
After all, it’s well
known that colloidal silver is the world’s most powerful, natural
infection-fighting substance. That’s not
in dispute. So there’s no need to use
spurious claims to exaggerate its well-known healing qualities and proven
effectiveness against infectious illness and disease.
Here’s the bare-bone
truth of the matter, and let the chips fall where they may…
Colloidal
silver is an absolutely amazing healing substance, as any experienced user can
attest.
That’s
demonstrated by literally dozens of
clinical studies proving its effectiveness against infectious microorganisms
(you can read nearly 100 such clinical studies, here).
And
there are literally thousands upon
thousands of anecdotal accounts from experienced colloidal silver users the
world over, who have healed their own infections or cured their diseases using
colloidal silver (you can read hundreds of in-depth, real-life colloidal silver
success stories, here).
Plus,
there’s medical literature going all of the way back to the late 1800’s
extolling the healing virtues of colloidal silver, such as this quote from Alfred
Searle, published in his book, The Use of
Colloids in Health and Disease, way back in 1919:
"Applying
colloidal silver to human subjects has been done in a large number of cases
with astonishingly successful results...it has the advantage of being rapidly
fatal to parasites without toxic action on its host. It is quite stable. It
protects rabbits from ten times the lethal dose of tetanus or diphtheria
toxin."
Or
this quote from the National Druggist
(page 338), back in August 1920:
"…colloidal
silver has proved its value in combating the following ailments among others --
tonsilitis, gonorrhoeal conjunctivitis, spring catarrh, pustular eczema of
scalp, septic ulcers of legs, boils, chronic cystitis, ringworm, soft sores.
But we must not prolong the list of the good works of colloidal silver. Suffice
it that at the present time it is the most extensively used in medicine of all
the sols."
And
of course, to this very day top doctors, clinical researchers and other cutting
edge medical experts (such as the famous cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Gerald
Lemole; see here) enthusiastically recommend
the use of colloidal silver for healing infections and related diseases.
For
more examples, check out what some of the top medical experts in North America
have to say, in my article “What Real Medical,
Scientific and Clinical Experts Have to Say About Colloidal Silver Usage” at this link.
But 650 Different
Pathogens?
So
there’s no doubt about the astonishing healing and infection-fighting qualities
of colloidal silver.
However,
if you Google the term “colloidal silver,” you’ll find hundreds of websites
making the claim that “colloidal silver has been proven to kill over 650
different pathogens.”
Some
of these websites even claim “colloidal silver has been proven to heal over 650
different diseases.”
Of
course, neither of these claims is completely
true. There’s a slight exaggeration
involved. And I’m happy to explain it.
First
of all, to my knowledge, no one has ever tested colloidal silver on “over 650 different pathogens.” And no one has ever used it to cure “over 650
different diseases.”
As
effective as colloidal silver is against infection and disease, there’s no need
to exaggerate its over 100 year track record as one of the most broad-spectrum
natural antimicrobial substances on the face of the earth.
Its
track record speaks for itself. And the
exaggerated claims that it’s been “proven to kill over 650 different pathogens”
or “cure over 650 different diseases” serve only to give critics something to latch
onto and gripe about.
So
let me set the record straight, as best I can.
The '650' figure seems to have come from an old 1978 Science Digest article on the
antimicrobial benefits of silver, that stated:
"Thanks to
eye-opening research, silver is re-emerging as a wonder of modern medicine. An
antibiotic kills perhaps a half-dozen different disease organisms, but silver
kills some 650. Resistant strains fail to develop. Moreover, silver is
virtually non-toxic."
-- Science Digest, "Our Mightiest Germ
Fighter" by Jim Powell, March 1978
Now
that’s an amazing statement. And taken
at face value, it’s true. And you’ll
find it widely quoted on numerous websites concerned with colloidal
silver.
But
did the Science Digest statement
actually pertain to colloidal silver
– i.e., the typical liquid colloidal silver solutions being sold in health food
stores all across America and around the world?
Or
was it referring to some other form of silver?
And where exactly did Science
Digest come up with this "650" figure?
Well, here’s the answer:
Well, here’s the answer:
The
“650” figure appears to have been taken from an older 1973 study on a medical compound
known as silver sulfadiazine.
The
study was published in the journal Antimicrobial
Agents and Chemotherapy. Here’s what the researchers stated in their study
synopsis:
"657 different
types of bacteria from 22 different bacterial species were exposed to silver
sulfadiazine. All strains were inhibited by levels which can easily be obtained
topically. Strains resistant to sulfadiazine or multiple antibiotics were sensitive
to silver sulfadiazine."
-- Carr, Howard S., Wlodkowski, Theodore J.,
and Rosenkranz, Herbert S. 1973. Silver sulfadiazine: in vitro antibacterial
activity. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 4(5), 585- 587.
So
this study appears to be the origin of the widely touted "650"
figure, which has been bandied about ever since 1978 by just about every
journalist who has ever written about colloidal silver. It’s even quoted,
without attribution, in numerous clinical studies on colloidal silver.
But
it’s important to understand that silver sulfadiazine is not the same thing as “colloidal silver.”
Indeed,
silver sulfadiazine is a prescription cream, or ointment. It contains
antimicrobial silver. And it’s often
used in hospital burn wards to help prevent infections from setting in on the
dead, necrotizing skin of serious burn victims.
You
see, most hospitalized burn victims don’t die from the burns, but instead, from
the infections that set in afterwards. So
silver sulfadiazine has been used in hospital burn wards to help save burn
victims from infection for literally decades.
But
the only thing silver sulfadiazine has in common with colloidal silver is the
fact that both products contain silver
as their central healing ingredient. And
of course, silver, in just about any form, kills infectious microbes. And for most people, that connection between
the two products is good enough.
Does
it really make any difference that
the study was actually about silver sulfadiazine, and not about the typical colloidal
silver products to which it is so regularly attributed?
Well,
yes and no. After all, the study clearly
and unequivocally demonstrates the broad-spectrum effectiveness of
antimicrobial silver. And in the study,
the silver clearly worked on over 650 different strains of pathogenic
microorganisms.
But
in no way was colloidal silver
actually tested against these pathogens.
So for a colloidal silver vendor to claim his product has been “proven
to kill over 650 different infectious microorganisms” or “cure over 650
different diseases” is a gross overstatement of the facts, to say the
least.
Granted,
if the silver content of silver sulfadiazine kills over 650 different pathogens
– which the study indeed demonstrated -- then the silver content in colloidal silver will probably do the
same. After all, silver is silver.
But
the tests simply haven’t been done to actually prove colloidal silver kills over 650 different pathogens. So it’s at least a tiny bit disingenuous to make that ever-so-widely-touted “650
different pathogens” claim in regards to typical colloidal silver products sold
in health food stores.
Finally,
when people claim antimicrobial silver in
any form has been “proven to heal over 650 different diseases,” they are flat-out misstating – or at the very least, misunderstanding – what the data
actually says.
There’s
a huge difference between killing 650
different microbes, and healing 650 different diseases. It’s kind of like saying anti-lock brakes are
on millions of cars today therefore anti-lock brakes have saved millions of
lives. The one claim doesn’t necessarily
follow the other no matter how closely related they may be.
Another Misquoted
Study
Another
often-misquoted study on colloidal silver’s effectiveness against pathogens is
the one said to have been conducted by a researcher named Dr. Larry C. Ford, M.D.
at UCLA in 1988 (or in 1992, depending upon which source you read).
According
to numerous online sources, his study supposedly verified the 650-plus figure
for colloidal silver. However, the study
has been shrouded in controversy. And
the author of the study later died, reportedly of suicide, so the controversy has
never been resolved.
According
to at least a few online sources, UCLA actually disavowed the study after colloidal silver vendors began making
claims like “UCLA has confirmed that colloidal silver kills over 650 different
microbes.”
Apparently,
UCLA didn’t disavow the study because it was poorly done, or was technically flawed
in any way, but instead, because the researcher apparently conducted it independently for his own commercial
purposes, without permission of the university.
And
UCLA apparently didn't want their name being used in association with the
study, as it would appear they were endorsing a commercial product they were
not involved in developing.
So
when you read that "UCLA has confirmed that 650 different pathogens are
killed by colloidal silver" that statement is arguably false.
While
the controversial Ford study may or may not have demonstrated the ability of
colloidal silver to kill over 650 different pathogens, UCLA apparently had
nothing to do with the study.
Yes,
the researcher was from UCLA, and the study was likely conducted there, but without the auspices or involvement of the
university itself.
Of
course, none of this seems to stop people from making the claim that “UCLA has
confirmed that 650 different pathogens are killed by colloidal silver.”
Does Any of This Really Matter?
As
I stated at the outset of this article, there’s so much bona-fide, thoroughly conclusive evidence backing up the
astonishingly broad-spectrum effectiveness of colloidal silver, there’s no
reason to exaggerate the case.
As
Harvard-educated Dr. Jonathan Wright, M.D., of the world-famous Tahoma Clinic
in Washington State recently pointed out, in many cases of infection colloidal
silver far outclasses conventional antibiotic drugs. He states:
“No matter how much a
germ mutates, it can't change enough to escape the damaging effects of
colloidal silver. And in the process, the silver doesn't harm human tissue or
kill off the good bacteria in the intestine the way antibiotics and other
medications do."
And
as Dr. Joseph Weissman, M.D. board
certified immunologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of
California Medical School has stated regarding the vital importance of becoming
thoroughly familiar with the use of colloidal silver:
"Today, many antibiotics are losing the
battle with germs. Fortunately, the best germ killer, which was discovered over
2,000 years ago, is finally getting the proper attention from medical science --
natural silver. I sincerely recommend that everyone have electrically generated
colloidal silver in their home as an antiseptic, antibacterial and antifungal
agent."
You
can find literally hundreds more eye-opening quotes from bona-fide medical and clinical research experts extolling the
myriad of healing and infection-fighting virtues of colloidal silver and other
forms of antimicrobial silver at this link.
So
let’s keep the record straight. There’s
simply no need to exaggerate the case on behalf of colloidal silver by claiming
that it “has been proven to kill over 650 different pathogens,” or that
colloidal silver “has been proven to cure over 650 different diseases.”
The
astonishing effectiveness of colloidal silver is not in dispute. Numerous
clinical studies prove beyond any shadow of a doubt its broad-spectrum
effectiveness against multitudes of
pathogens, including many of the deadly drug-resistant pathogens the health
authorities are so up-in-arms over these days.
For
example, see this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study and this study, just to point out a
few.
More Information on
Colloidal Silver
If
you’d like access to over 120 in-depth articles on using
colloidal silver to heal a wide variety of infectious illnesses and diseases,
see the Colloidal Silver
Update
page at the link in this sentence.
If
you’d like to see how literally hundreds
of experienced colloidal silver users are using colloidal silver to heal an
astonishing array of infections and related illnesses and diseases – including the
healing of infections caused by drug-resistant pathogens like MRSA – see this link.
If
you’d like to watch some short “how to” instructional videos on healing with
colloidal silver, check out the colloidal silver Videos page at the link in
this sentence.
And
if you’re already a big colloidal silver fan, please join me and over 8,000
other experienced colloidal silver users on the Colloidal Silver
Secrets Community
on Facebook. It’s free, and it has become the web’s most dynamic online
resource for up-to-date information on colloidal silver.
Finally,
if you’d like to learn how to make your own high-quality micro-particle colloidal silver, quickly and easily,
for less than 36 cents a quart
(rather than paying upwards of $10 an ounce in health food stores) just click
on the link in this paragraph.
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
2013 | Life & Health Research Group, LLC | PO Box 1239 | Peoria AZ
85380-1239 | All rights reserved.
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