Not a week goes by
that someone doesn’t pass along an article to me from an individual claiming in
shrill tones that colloidal silver usage is egregiously dangerous.
Of course, there
are some very real dangers to drinking excessively high dosages of colloidal
silver on a regular basis for long periods of time, and I’ve covered those
dangers many times in previous articles.
Plus, there’s a
very tiny subset of people who appear to be allergic to silver, and therefore
should not drink colloidal silver at all.
But many of the
most common claims being made against colloidal silver are either devoid of
facts and documentation, or highly exaggerated, and appear to be specifically
designed to scare people away from trying colloidal silver altogether.
Here are my short answers
to some of the most common of those claims, with links to additional
information you can check for yourself…
Hi, Steve Barwick here, for The
Silver Edge…
An individual recently wrote that she was shocked to find so much information on the internet demonstrating how dangerous it is to use colloidal silver.
She cited claims that:
- Colloidal silver interferes with the absorption of prescription drugs
- The pathogen e. Coli is actually resistant to silver
- Silver is toxic to normal human cells
- Silver is harmful to human sperm, eggs and reproduction
- Silver ingestion has been linked to birth defects
- Finally, she stated that a search of the PubMed database showed no relevant information to silver’s supposed infection-fighting qualities
Of course, as I’ve pointed out in the past, all of these claims are
“talking points” regularly used by such anti-colloidal silver sources as
WebMD.com, MayoClinic.com, the FDA, Quackwatch and other such organizations that
frequently serve as apologists for Big Pharma.
And very few of those claims have any significant documentation, or are
based solely on test tube studies rather than real-life studies.
So let’s take a look at each claim, one-by-one, and see what we can learn:
So let’s take a look at each claim, one-by-one, and see what we can learn:
· CLAIM: Colloidal
silver interferes with the absorption of prescription drugs
The idea that colloidal silver interferes with the absorption of certain
prescription medications has been plastered all over the internet.
But the only documentation ever cited is an FDA bulletin which makes the
same claim.
So I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FDA, asking
them to document the claim. They could not.
Rather than print all of the details here, you can learn more by reading
my previous article, “FDA
Admits: No Proof Colloidal Silver
Interferes With Drug Absorption.”
Nevertheless, if you’re on prescription drugs you should tell your doctor about all of your nutritional supplements, in case there’s anything (including colloidal silver) that might be contraindicated.
Nevertheless, if you’re on prescription drugs you should tell your doctor about all of your nutritional supplements, in case there’s anything (including colloidal silver) that might be contraindicated.
· CLAIM: The
pathogen e. Coli is actually
resistant to silver
This claim is based on "iffy" research in which the laboratory
medium used to grow the e. Coli bacteria
contained specific chemicals known to bond to silver and reduce its
effectiveness.
In other words, the studies were test tube studies, not human studies. And the
chemical broth used by researchers to grow the e. Coli bacteria for the study contained a variety of salts and
other chemicals that are known to neutralize silver’s effectiveness.
As a white paper published by the Immunogenic Research Foundation pointed
out:
“Another most common problem of
these [test tube clinical studies] was the inadvertent culture contamination
with various salts, something which will reduce silver efficacy.”
Researcher N. Grier, writing in the journal of Disinfection,
Sterilization and Preservation way back in 1985, agrees with that assessment. He pointed out in an article titled “Silver
and Its Compounds” that:
“Some
so-called Ag+ resistant microorganisms may result from an apparent
neutralization of the metal’s inhibitory action or other assay artifacts.
These include the
presence of chelators such as serial amino acids, constituents of hard water,
different buffers, light, incubation temperature, and particularly, soluble
components of trypticase soy agar (TSA) and tryptose glucose extract agar
(TGE).”
In short, the microbes being tested weren’t actually silver-resistant. The
silver was simply robbed of its antimicrobial qualities before it could do its
job.
What’s more, out of 20 recognized strains of e. Coli in existence, only a single
sub-species of e. Coli was shown to
be “silver-resistant” in the “iffy” study.
In the following article, Colloidal Silver and E. Coli,”
I cite seven different clinical studies
that have reached quite the opposite conclusion, demonstrating silver to be
very effective against e. Coli,
including drug-resistant strains of the pathogen!
· CLAIM: Silver
is toxic to normal human cells
Over the past five years there have been a small handful of clinical
studies purporting to demonstrate that “silver is toxic to human cells."
Once again, all of these studies
have all been conducted in test tube environments, not in the human body.
So yes, with all of the body's protective mechanisms removed, you can indeed
demonstrate silver is toxic to cells, especially if you saturate the cells in
overly high concentrations of silver.
However, the same studies could have been conducted with orange juice,
or coffee, or even with distilled water, and would have shown the same cell-damaging
results.
Any time you put human cells in a test tube, and start adding substances
with none of the body's protective mechanisms in place, you'll be able to show
harm to the cells. That’s what makes clinical
studies like this so disingenuous.
Another important factor:
The vast majority of these "silver harms human cell" test tube
studies were conducted using cancer
cell lines. Of course, researchers have
known for decades that silver has a particular affinity for cancer cells, and
easily kills them without harming normal, healthy human cells.
So all the researchers actually demonstrated is that silver kills cancer cells. They then extrapolated, without any
documentation whatsoever, that this same toxicity applies to normal healthy
human cells. Once, again, this is extremely
disingenuous.
Therefore, the conclusions of the researchers that silver "harms
human cells" are essentially bogus. To learn more, see, “Silver
Nanoparticles Stop Cancer Without Toxic Harm.”
Naturally, egregious misuse of any substance can cause harm to human
cells. But normal, responsible usage of
colloidal silver has never been demonstrated to harm human cells.
In fact, as far back as the 1970's and 80’s the late Dr. Robert O.
Becker, M.D. conducted groundbreaking research at Syracuse Medical University
using tiny, electrically generated, sub-microscopic silver particles. And in
human trials he found absolutely no harm to cells or tissues.
Dr. Becker would later write:
“What we have done
was rediscover the fact that silver kills bacteria, a fact which had actually
been known for centuries...
All of the
organisms we tested were sensitive to the electrically generated silver ion,
including some that were resistant to all known antibiotics
...In no case were any undesirable side effects
of the silver treatment apparent.”
For additional information, see my previous article "Another
Bogus Study Claims Nanosilver Harms Human Cells."
· CLAIM: Silver
is harmful to human sperm, eggs and reproduction
Once again, this claim is also based solely
on test tube studies in which human sperm or eggs were soaked in such high
levels of colloidal silver the only way you could possibly get that much silver
into ones testicles or ovaries would be to inject it.
Unless one was drinking gallons
of colloidal silver at a time (when a normal human dose is a teaspoon to an
ounce or so) there would be zero chance of getting that much silver into
one’s reproductive system.
What’s more, the claim is contradicted by modern artificial insemination
practices in which silver is actually used to preserve animal sperm and help
keep it viable longer.
And the claim is also contradicted by animal studies in which silver was
used as a “stain” to track the development of animal embryos in real-time,
while causing no harm to the developing embryos.
For more detailed information, see my previous article “Is
Colloidal Silver Toxic to Human Sperm or Eggs, or Harmful to Human
Reproduction?”
See also the very interesting article “A Tale of Two Pregnancies: Can
Colloidal Silver Help Resolve Infertility?”
· CLAIM: Silver
ingestion has been linked to birth defects
The single "study" linking silver to birth defects wasn't a study on colloidal silver at all, but on drinking water from a local river source that had overly-high natural levels of silver.
In the 1970’s, several women in Massachusetts had
given birth to children with “fetal
developmental anomalies of the ear, face, and neck. Researchers tried to find out why this
cluster of birth defects happened.
They discovered low levels of silver in the
local drinking water. Silver levels were
present at only 1/100th of the EPA standard. Nevertheless, even with such low levels of
silver in the drinking water, the researchers blamed the silver for the cluster
of birth defects.
If you read the study itself, it's pretty "iffy." And to the best of my knowledge, there's never been a corroborating study to back
the original study up.
What's more, animal studies have shown no harm to the developing
fetuses, even when silver was being intubated straight into the pregnant animals.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency:
“In a
developmental toxicity study of pregnant rats conducted in 2002 by the National
Toxicology Program (NTP), silver acetate was administered by gavage [tube-feeding
– ED] on days 6-19 of gestation.
No developmental
effects were reported at doses up to 100 mg/kg…
…More importantly,
the results from this study did not demonstrate an increased susceptibility of
offspring, nor did it demonstrate systemic toxicity.”
-- Environmental
Protection Agency, Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 110 / Wednesday, June
10, 2009 / Rules and Regulations
If you’d like to learn more, I discuss that lone "fetal birth
defect" study in much more depth, in the article "Is It Safe to Take
Colloidal Silver During Pregnancy?"
· CLAIM: No clinical
evidence of silver’s supposed infection-fighting qualities.
The claim that there’s no body of medical literature demonstrating
silver’s effectiveness against pathogens or illnesses is also bunk.
Here's a link over 100
clinical studies demonstrating the effectiveness of silver against
pathogens, infectious illnesses, cancer cells, and more.
And here’s a link to an article
documenting what top medical, scientific and clinical research experts have to
say about colloidal silver.
Additional
Information
I could go on and on debunking the shrill online claims being made against
colloidal silver by a small handful of organizations with ties to Big Pharma.
But anytime someone is determined to denigrate colloidal silver, they'll
find some way to ignore the facts and continue repeating the discredited
talking points.
You can learn more about colloidal silver safety in the following
articles:
How to Make Your Own
Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver
Thankfully, today, high-quality
colloidal silver – the world’s safest and most powerful natural germ-fighter --
is available in just about every well-stocked health food store in the United
States.
However, it’s often egregiously expensive, selling for as much as $20 to
$30 for a tiny four-ounce bottle that might last a week at most.
However, owning a Micro-Particle
Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge allows you to make
your own high-quality colloidal silver for less than 36 cents a quart.
Compared to health food store prices for colloidal silver, your very
first one-quart batch of micro-particle colloidal silver actually pays for the
entire cost the generator.
Do you know of any other health product that literally
pays for itself the very first time you use it?
Obviously, having the ability to make your own high-quality
micro-particle colloidal silver for only a few pennies per quart is
about as close as you’ll ever get to having "free" colloidal silver
for the rest of your life, any time you or a family member, friend or loved one
needs it.
And because the silver particles produced by this amazing breakthrough
in colloidal silver-making technology are as low as .8 nm – a fraction of a single nanometer
– their effectiveness against colonies of pathogenic microbes is
astonishing.
Because of their extremely small size, the tiny, submicroscopic silver
particles are up to 1,000 times more bioavailable than
conventional silver particles. This means the human body is able to
absorb 99-100% of the silver, send it throughout the body to kill pathogens,
and then excrete it with ease, afterwards.
Plus, it’s now known that these tiny silver micro-particles are able to
kill off entire colonies of pathogens with far greater effectiveness than
conventional colloidal silver particles, because of the “zombie effect”
described in this
recent article about brand new research out of Hebrew University in
Jerusalem.
Perhaps that’s why so many thousands upon thousands of people absolutely
rave over the effectiveness of their homemade micro-particle colloidal silver,
as you can see at this
web page full of real-life colloidal silver success stories.
Discover How Easy It Is…
If you’d like to learn more about making your own high-quality colloidal
silver for just pennies per quart, you can…
- Read how unbelievably simple it is to make your own high-quality colloidal silver for less than 36 cents a quart, here.
- Learn why the Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator is the world’s #1 best-selling colloidal silver generator, here.
- Find out how to save a whopping $100 on a brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator, here.
Meanwhile, I’ll be back next week with another great article on
colloidal silver….
Yours for the safe, sane and responsible
use of colloidal silver,
Steve Barwick, author
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
Helpful Links:
Important Note and
Disclaimer: The contents of this Ezine have not been
evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Information conveyed herein is from sources deemed to be accurate and
reliable, but no guarantee can be made in regards to the accuracy and
reliability thereof. The author, Steve
Barwick, is a natural health journalist with over 30 years of experience
writing professionally about natural health topics. He is not
a doctor. Therefore, nothing stated in
this Ezine should be construed as prescriptive in nature, nor is any part of
this Ezine meant to be considered a substitute for professional medical
advice. Nothing reported herein is
intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The author is simply reporting in
journalistic fashion what he has learned during the past 17 years of
journalistic research into colloidal silver and its usage. Therefore, the information and data presented
should be considered for informational purposes only, and approached with
caution. Readers should verify for
themselves, and to their own satisfaction, from other knowledgeable sources
such as their doctor, the accuracy and reliability of all reports, ideas,
conclusions, comments and opinions stated herein. All important health care decisions should be
made under the guidance and direction of a legitimate, knowledgeable and
experienced health care professional.
Readers are solely responsible for their choices. The author and publisher disclaim
responsibility and/or liability for any loss or hardship that may be incurred
as a result of the use or application of any information included in this
Ezine.
Copyright
2016 | Life & Health Research Group, LLC | PO Box 1239 | Peoria AZ
85380-1239 | All rights reserved.
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