Every so often you come across something on the Internet that is so shockingly scary that you can’t possibly believe what you are seeing. Such is the case concerning the use of Colloidal Silver supplements and the effects upon the human body.
Available even today as a homeopathic alternative medicine remedy which claims to cure many illnesses such as arthritis, cancer, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, joint pains, cold & flu and more, this substance and the promises made are medical quackery. This cure-all is false hope, and it can be dangerous. I have seen a woman here locally in my neighborhood whom clearly has been duped by this – she has a notably blue-slate color and shiny sheen on all her visible skin. She looks almost albino and no, she is not. She clearly has some systemic ailment with her pigment and I am absolutely sure that this is from colloidal silver overdose. She has all the tell-tale indications of a condition called “Argyria,” the symptom of OTC (”over the counter”) silver ingestion. It reminded me of a famous case I read about a few years ago. I’ll provide the link to her story at the end of the article.
This got me interested to read more. From various private and public web pages to Wikipedia, I learned a great deal about this CS hoax being perpetrated against unsuspecting clients seeking the advantages of supplemental nutrients. Colloidal Silver should not even be available to the general public! Here is some of what I discovered:
At one time, silver compounds were included in topical antibiotic salves, as well as in nose & eye drops before the wide use of more effective and more effective antibiotics such as penicillin, sulfanilamide, etc. Nose drops for sinusitis sufferers contained silver compounds for their bacteria-killing ability. This is fact. There is some benefit against bacteria from the use of silver compounds in the preparation. Silver compounds do have an anti-bacterial quality. There was even a mouth-wash spray advertised in national magazines and newspapers some years back, that contained silver which was purported to rid you of bad breath by killing germs!
Electrolytically dissolved silver was added to the drinking water of the defunct Russian Mir space station and is added to the current International Space Station’s drinking water for water purification. There, a passive water purification system would be more necessary for the safety of the occupants in the sealed ecosystem of the space station. The levels used in water purification in these cases are certainly much less than the dietary dosing that health food store products distribute, and usually for far shorter duration than a typical ‘supplement’ dosing which often runs for several months or even years before the patient realizes that what they are doing is poisoning themselves.
And of course, the dietary supplement (”health food”) market is not regulated for the exact ingredients or for their stated strengths either. The recommended dose might not contain the strengths or even the actual ingredient(s) stated upon the label! And the purity of those ingredients are not regulated or assured either. The Internet makes getting these quackery supplements even easier.
Silver is not Required by the Human Body
Silver is not required by the human body for any bodily function. One cannot be ‘deficient’ in a substance that is not required, so don’t fall for that claim either. Any statements or suggestion that colloidal silver-containing compounds wards off colds and flu or drastically improves or extends lifespans are illegal claims in the United States and Australia, countries which regulate what can be legally claimed by supplement products. Manufacturers of colloidal silver products sold in health food stores can get around this however, under a ruling that colloidal silver is a ‘dietary supplement.’ It can be promoted under a more generalized ‘structure-function’ mandate but not as any type of curative for any type of illness or condition. In short, -it can’t be sold as ‘medicine’ or ‘nutritive/vitamin’ but it can be sold as a “health supplement” from which anything they wish to claim is more-or-less permitted. Generally, this dichotomy is harmless. For example; a common ‘weight loss’ aid (structure/function) is a product containing “crab chitin” which is processed and powdered crab shell. It is believed that in the intestine with the food you eat, that chitin binds with fat molecules and thus, rids fat via normal elimination. Taking two or three of these chitin’ capsules before a large meal allegedly ’sweeps the fat away’ allowing you to eat more and gain less. This can be claimed even if unsubstantiated. But there is no ‘health benefit’ from eating crab or shrimp carapace.
From Wikipedia:
"In August 1999, the US Food and Drug Administration banned colloidal silver sellers from claiming any therapeutic value for the product, noting that such products were being marketed for numerous diseases without evidence of effectiveness The FDA also banned over the counter sale drug products containing colloidal silver due to the lack of safety or efficacy data."
and this;
"In 2002, the Australian therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) found that there were no legitimate medical uses for colloidal silver and no evidence to support its marketing claims. Given the associated safety risks, the TGA concluded that “efforts should be made to curb the illegal availability of colloidal silver products, which is a significant public health issue”
But you need to see the results to be truly impressed! Take note that this woman makes her story public to warn everyone of the dangers and risks of colloidal silver supplementation.
See Images of Argyria from Rosemary’s Site
Because the images on Rosemary’s site are copyrighted material, I cannot include them here. But you can view them on her site from the above link, or from the direct link of images on her site here. Argyria Photos
Apart from the bizarre skin coloration, there seems to be little physical health risk to the majority of patients with Argyria, although at least one death from complications is cited in sources researched. About the only thing that will occur, is the distinct and undesirable change in skin color over time. Most of the web sites reporting Argyria seem to indicate that in the commonly taken dosage, this becomes noticeable after approximately five months of continuous use.
There is no known treatment to restore the normal skin coloration of Argyria sufferers, and chelating agents (substances which bind to and remove toxins from the body, a ‘purgative’ treatment) apparently are not effective. Laser treatment and cosmetic surgeries have offered hope for restoring a more normal appearance, but the best defense today is knowledge. Don’t be led into the health & benefits claims lie that Colloidal Silver Supplements are safe and effective. They are neither.
Colloidal Silver Supplement. A Medical Case
Read this short message about Colloidal Silver ingestion. This link is provided at the bottom of the “Argyria Photos” link above, but it is far too vital to not call attention to it again.
