Debunking “Why I Never Consume Colloidal Silver”

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:

• 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. 

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

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Infection-Fighting Silver Gains New Respect from News Media

Colloidal silver and other forms of antimicrobial silver tend to get a lot of negative press in the news media.

This is particularly true when the information sources being quoted are shills for Big Pharma which views colloidal silver as the #1 threat to its multi-billion dollar annual market in prescription antibiotic drugs. 

But silver gets a lot of positive press, as well, particularly when the sources being quoted are researchers who are in-the-know regarding its many healing and infection-fighting benefits.

Here then are some brief excerpts from relatively positive news articles I’ve seen in the world press over the past few years regarding the oftentimes astonishing healing and infection-fighting properties of antimicrobial silver…

Hi, Steve Barwick here, for TheSilverEdge.com…

Whether it’s being used as a defense against deadly, antibiotic-resistant superbugs…as a means of preventing infections in surgical applications…as a powerful water disinfectant…or even in its new role as a cancer-fighting agent…silver has been “big news” from time to time over the past few years.      

Here are just a few examples of positive articles about the healing and infection-fighting benefits of silver, which have appeared in the world press in recent years:

Daily Mail (Britain):

"Silver, the New Weapon Against Superbugs"

"A new study from Boston University revealed that adding silver to antibiotics enhanced the drugs' abilities to fight off lethal infections in mice.

...Through their tests, the team showed that just a small amount of silver made E. coli bacteria between 10 and 1,000 times more sensitive to commonly prescribed antibiotics, such as penicillin.

...Most importantly, the researchers showed that silver helped the antibiotic tetracycline fight a previously resilient strain of E. coli.

This signified that the combination of silver and antibiotics could be used to resensitize antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

'Overall, what we show is that small amounts of silver, non-toxic levels, can be used in conjunction with commonly used antibiotics to treat persistent infection and to treat bio-film based infections, which are problematic for medical implants,' Collins said.'

-- Daily Mail, "Silver Really Could Be the New Weapon Against Superbugs," June 23, 2013

British Broadcasting Company (BBC):

"No Safe and Effective Replacements for Silver"

"The medicinal properties of silver has been known since at least the times of Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek "father of medicine", and rely on its toxic effects on pathogens, including bacteria and fungi.

Silver ions kill pathogens by binding to proteins in their cells, making silver compounds ideal for use in antiseptics and wound dressings. Nanoparticles of silver are even woven into socks and other clothing to reduce bacterial and fungal growth – and the odours that arise.

Silver is also used in heart valves and catheters, and researchers are now investigating silver's potential in killing cancer cells...says Alan Lansdown, an expert in medicinal uses for silver at Imperial College London.

"There aren't really any effective and safe replacements for silver, except synthetic antibiotics."

-- BBC Smart Planet, "Silver: The Harsh Realities Behind Diminishing Supplies," April, 18, 2012

New York Times:

"Silver One of Humankind's First Weapons Against Bacteria"

"Silver, one of humankind's first weapons against bacteria, is receiving new respect for its antiseptic powers thanks to the growing ability of researchers to tinker with its molecular structure.

Doctors prescribed silver to fight infections at least as far back as the days of ancient Greece and Egypt. Their knowledge was absorbed by Rome, where historians like Pliny the Elder reported that silver plasters caused wounds to close rapidly.

More recently, in 1884, a German doctor named C.S.F. Crede demonstrated that putting a few drops of silver nitrate into the eyes of babies born to women with venereal disease virtually eliminated the high rates of blindness among such infants.

But silver's time-tested if poorly understood versatility as a disinfectant was overshadowed in the latter half of the 20th century by the rise of antibiotics. Now, with more and more bacteria developing resistance to antibiotic drugs, some researchers and health care entrepreneurs have returned to silver for another look.

This time around, they are armed with nanotechnology, a fast-developing collection of products and skills that helps researchers deploy silver compounds in ways that maximize the availability of silver ions - the element's most potent form.

Scientists also now have a better understanding of the weaknesses of their microbial adversaries. One of the urgent goals is to prevent bacterial infections that each year strike 2 million hospital patients in the United States and kill 90,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Such infections are usually treated with large doses of antibiotics and sometimes with repeat surgeries. They cost the U.S. health care system roughly $4.5 billion annually, and the challenge is growing with the spread of drug-resistant microbes."

-- New York Times, “Old Curative Gets New Life at Tiny Scale,” December 20, 2005

Los Angeles Times:

"Bacteria Can't Become Silver-Resistant"

"But Dr. David Weber, an infectious disease and public health expert at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, isn't convinced that silver resistance will prove much of a problem.  

Resistance to antibiotics occurs quite readily in bacteria once prolonged exposure to, say, penicillin, occurs.  But there's little reason to suppose that resistance to silver would develop so easily, he says.

An antibiotic like penicillin works by hitting a bacterium in a limited fashion, at specific sites. Because the killing is done precisely, the bacterium has a good chance of developing a mutation that would confer resistance.

In contrast, silver kills microbes in a broad, unspecific fashion -- like tossing a bomb at a bacterium. It hits many essential points such as a bacterium's entire respiratory system.  This makes it much more difficult for silver-resistance to develop.

And even if tolerance did develop, Weber says, increasing the dose of silver the bacterium is exposed to will solve the problem in most cases."

-- Los Angeles Times, “Will Bacteria Develop Resistance?”, August 4, 2008

Scientific American:  

"Silver Makes Antibiotics More Effective"

"Like werewolves and vampires, bacteria have a weakness: silver.

The precious metal has been used to fight infection for thousands of years — Hippocrates first described its antimicrobial properties in 400 bc — but how it works has been a mystery.

Now, a team led by James Collins, a biomedical engineer at Boston University in Massachusetts, has described how silver can disrupt bacteria, and shown that the ancient treatment could help to deal with the thoroughly modern scourge of antibiotic resistance.

...Collins and his team found that silver — in the form of dissolved ions — attacks bacterial cells in two main ways:

It makes the cell membrane more permeable, and it interferes with the cell's metabolism, leading to the overproduction of reactive, and often toxic, oxygen compounds.

Both mechanisms could potentially be harnessed to make today's antibiotics more effective against resistant bacteria, Collins says."

-- Scientific American, "Silver Makes Antibiotics Thousands of Times More Effective," June 20, 2013

Wall Street Journal:  

"Silver Kills Harmful Microbes"

"Silver, in the form of a metal or as dissolved ions, fights microorganisms by interfering with processes such as how they breathe and reproduce.

Tests show that silver ions kill microorganisms ranging from harmful strains of e. coli that cause food-borne diseases to the staphylococcus bacteria responsible for serious infections.

The metal becomes more active against microbes when it's made into small particles because they can cover more surface area when they come into direct contact with bacteria, says Andrew Maynard, a physicist and chief scientific adviser to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington."

-- Wall Street Journal, "The War Against Germs Has a Silver Lining," June 6, 2006

Pravda (Russia):

"Silver:  Best Defense Against Bacteria and Viruses"

"The best defense against swine flu, or any flu, is the age old remedy of colloidal silver. The metal silver in its colloidal state can be safely consumed and used in the body.

Bacteria and viruses cannot develop resistance to colloidal silver. Silver disables a vital enzyme and mechanism in all bacteria and pathogens so that they cannot survive.

It is good to take a few teaspoons of colloidal silver daily to maintain health. More colloidal silver should be taken if experiencing illness."

-- Pravda, "Colloidal Silver Can Be the Best Defense Against Swine Flu," March 4, 2009

The Gleaner (Jamaica’s oldest newpaper): 

“Residents Say Colloidal Silver Cures Everything”

“Colloidal silver was used by doctors in the early 20th century, but after the development of more modern antibiotics, its use dwindled. Since the 1990s, however, there has been a resurgence of its use amid claims that it is a cure-all.

Colloidal silver is now in Jamaica and several residents who have used the product are reporting amazing health benefits, dubbing it the miracle water.

Among them is 56-year-old Norman Campbell, popularly known as Boy Blue, of Standfast district in Browns Town, St Ann. Campbell told The Gleaner that he had an enlarged prostate, but after taking the water in prescribed doses for three months, the problem went away.

Tzdhne Ishigyhd, a Rastafarian who lives in the Corporate Area, said she is a lupus survivor and since using colloidal silver, the disease has gone into remission.

Another woman, Erna Hunter of Steer Town, St Ann, said the miracle water has lowered her blood sugar level, got rid of pain in her legs, and got rid of her sinus-related problems…

… Many people, since they have tried it, they have come back and say yes, it has made a difference in their lives. It’s like a gift sent from God, Hall stated.”

-- The Gleaner, “The Miracle Water - Residents Say Colloidal Silver Cures Everything,” June 15, 2013

Daily Mail (Britain):

“Silver Kills Cancer as Effectively as Chemotherapy”

“Silver can kill some cancers as effectively as chemotherapy and with potentially fewer side effects, new research claims.  Scientists say that old wives tales about the precious metal being a ‘silver bullet’ to beat the Big C could be true.

The metal already has a wide range of medicinal uses and is a common antiseptic, antibiotic and means of purifying water in the third world.

And British researchers now say that silver compounds are as effective at killing certain cancer cells as a leading chemotherapy drug, but with potentially far fewer side-effects…

…The [researchers] compared it to Cisplatin, currently used to treat a wide variety of cancers, but known to have harsh side effects including nausea, vomiting and even kidney damage.

Silver is used already in everyday products such as deodorant with no known side-effects, and could make for a potentially cheaper alternative to platinum-based Cisplatin…

…Researchers from the University of Leeds conducted lab tests which exposed breast and colon cancer cells to various silver-based chemicals over a six day period.

Results, published in journal Dalton Transactions, showed that these silver-compounds were ‘as effective as Cisplatin’ at killing cancer with potentially fewer side effects.

While the team are still unsure about how exactly silver battles cancer, they think its effectiveness may be caused by the structure surrounding silver atoms, known as its ligand.

They think this may help release the silver ion into cells when it enters the body, killing any cancer.”

-- The Daily Mail, “Silver Bullet for Cancer:  Metal Can Kill Some Tumors Better Than Chemotherapy With Fewer Side Effects,” February 2, 2012

Science Daily:

“Silver Treats Cancer With Fewer Side Effects”

“The Internet is awash with stories of how silver can be used to treat cancer. Now, lab tests have shown that it is as effective as the leading chemotherapy drug -- and may have fewer side-effects.

Results from the study at the University of Leeds, published in Dalton Transactions, show that particular silver compounds are as toxic to cancer cells as the platinum-based drug Cisplatin, which is widely used to treat a range of cancers.”

But the crucial difference is that silver is thought to be much less toxic to healthy human cells, and in some cases, can be beneficial. Silver is currently used for its antiseptic and antibiotic properties, in bandages, wound dressings and water purification filters in the third world.

In Britain, Dr. Roger Phillips, from the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Bradford in West Yorkshire, Britain, and Dr Charlotte Willans from the University of Leeds, are leading the charge in developing new, silver-based anti-cancer treatments. 

Says Dr. Phillips about this new research:

"We have chosen silver because it has anti-cancer activity but it is inherently non-toxic to normal tissues. This project is therefore exciting because there is the possibility that we can develop a drug that is as active against tumors as Cisplatin but will be less toxic to normal tissues."

-- Science Daily, "Silver Bullet to Beat Cancer?” February 2, 2012

The Telegraph (Britain):

“Silver Destroys Disease-Causing Viruses”

“Scientists have discovered that they can attach tiny studs of silver onto the surface of otherwise harmless bacteria, giving them the ability to destroy viruses.

They have tested the silver-impregnated bacteria against norovirus, which causes winter vomiting outbreaks, and found that they leaves the virus unable to cause infections.

The researchers now believe the same technique could help to combat other viruses, including influenza and those responsible for causing the common cold.

Professor Willy Verstraete, a microbiologist from the University of Ghent, Belgium, unveiled the findings at a meeting of the Society for Applied Microbiology in London last week. 

He said: ‘We are using silver nanoparticles, which are extremely small but give a large amount of surface area as they can clump around the virus, increasing the inhibiting effect.’

Dr Michael Dempsey, a biologist at Manchester Metropolitan University who has studied the effects of silver nanoparticles on microorganisms, said:  ‘A nanoparticle contains around 15,000 atoms of silver according to some recent research from China on how they work…

…This means a high concentration of silver atoms come into contact with the micro-organism, punch a hole in its wall and destroy it.’"

-- The Telegraph, “Bacteria Turned Into Silver Bullet to Combat Flu,” October 16, 2010

Daily Mail (Britain):

“Silver Beats Antibiotic Resistance”

“Silver could be a precious weapon in the fight against antibiotic resistance. Scientists have shown that giving tiny amounts of silver at the same time as antibiotics makes the drugs up to a thousand times more effective.

The finding comes in the wake of warnings by Britain’s top doctor that the rise of drug-resistant superbugs could trigger an ‘apocalyptic scenario’ in which even routine operations such as hip surgery become deadly because we have run out of antibiotics.

…In experiments on mice, the Boston University researchers found that giving silver with antibiotics made them between ten and a thousand times better at fighting infections.  In some cases, bugs classed as antibiotic resistant became treatable.

…The drugs could be laced with silver or covered in a fine coating of the precious metal and used to tackle dangerous stomach bugs, urinary tract infections or hard-to-treat films of bacteria that coat catheters.

The research, detailed in the journal Science Translational Medicine, also worked out how silver helps kill bugs.

The metal makes bacteria more ‘leaky’, allowing antibiotics to get inside them and kill them.

Plus, it boosts production of oxygen molecules that aid and abet the death.”

-- Daily Mail, “Silver Really COULD be the New Weapon Against Superbugs: Adding it to Antibiotics Boosts the Effectiveness by 1,000 Times,” June 14, 2013

The Ivy Leaf (U.S. Army, Iraq)

“Silver Water Filters Stop Waterborne Diseases”

“As the scorching Iraqi sun blazed down on a little boy in a village, he cupped his hands together to drink water from a canal running through the middle of his town, unaware that 11,000 children like him die from water-borne diseases every day around the world who drink from similar canals.

As a way to resolve the local water problem and prevent tragedies such as this, leaders from 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, requested the help of a college professor to teach local Iraqi potters how to make clay/sawdust ceramic filter pots capable of decimating 99.88% of water-borne disease agents.

…To accomplish this, Richard Wukich, a college ceramics professor who teaches at Slippery Rock University in Pittsburgh, volunteered to instruct two Iraqi potters how to make the ceramic filters during his free time between semesters. He traveled to Iraq and spent two weeks training his new charges.

Wukich began his class by teaching the apprentices how to make clay pots with a mixture of saw dust, which is uncommon in Iraqi culture. The saw dust disappears during the clay baking process, creating several small holes that act as a filtering system inside the pot.

After crafting several pots, Wukich taught the trainees how to coat the pots with colloidal silver, an incredibly fine particle that kills bacteria and organisms and does not allow bacteria to grow into a culture inside the pot.

The pots are either painted with a brush or dipped into a container containing a colloidal silver and water mixture.

After the colloidal silver is completely absorbed into the pot, it is placed on the mouth of a 5-gallon receptacle container. The filter is then covered with a lid or a piece of fine cloth. Users pour water into the fine cloth to filter out extremely turbid water.

As the water enters the clay pot, the filters inside the clay leave small dirt particles behind and the colloidal silver destroys any bacteria in the water.

The clear and clean water then drips into the 5-gallon receptacle at a rate of 1-1.5 quarts-an-hour. “This project was originally initiated by Capt. Richard Nardo,” said Wukich.”

-- The Ivy Leaf, U.S. Army, Iraq, “Water Filter Provides Factions Reason to Unite, Combat Water Problems in Region”, September 17, 2006

In Conclusion...

Those excerpts are from just a few of the positive news articles on colloidal silver or other forms of antimicrobial silver I’ve seen in the world press, in recent years. 

So it’s good to know that the news media doesn’t always fall victim to the hyperventilating claims of the shills for Big Pharma who constantly plant negative articles about silver in the press.

The truth is, colloidal silver and other forms of antimicrobial silver are used safely on a daily basis by tens of millions of people around the world.  And more and more often, its astonishing disease-busting properties are being recognized worldwide. 

You can learn how much colloidal silver to take daily, based on your body weight and the ppm (i.e., concentration) of the colloidal silver you’re taking, by reading the article at the link in this sentence.

And you can learn how to make your own high-quality colloidal silver -- quickly and easily, in the comfort of your own home, and for less than 36 cents a quart – by clicking the link in this sentence. 

If you’d like to know what sets the Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator – the world’s #1 best-selling colloidal silver generator – apart from all other colloidal silver generators, see the eye-opening article at this link.

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

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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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