EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT COLLOIDAL SILVER...
(BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK.)
This booklet is a compilation of readily available information on the controversial subject of what we consider one of the safest, most economical and effective antibiotics known to man.
Brought to you by:
Southwest Freedom
www.southwestshootingauthority.net
Call (505)349-8753 (message only)
Email: contact@southwestshootingauthority.net
Colloidal silver is used by many thousands of people each day and is sold by hundreds of health food stores and mail order places around the country. We make our own. We feel that it's simple and safe and may save our lives during times when nothing else is available. I cannot personally vouch for every word in this booklet as the truth. However, I CAN vouch for the incredible effectiveness of CS through my own personal experiences.
The following pages contain no comments from me unless so marked with my name.
Cope R.
___________________________________________________________________
COLLOIDAL SILVER
A Brief Overview
by Dr. Robert Becker
Prior to the use of penicillin and sulfa drugs during World War II, medicine's most commonly utilized infection fighter was Colloidal Silver (a solution of extremely fine particles of pure silver suspended in water). A powerful germicidal, silver is an exceptional metal in that it is non-toxic to the human body, but lethal to over 650 types of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and molds. Conventional pharmaceutical antibiotics are typically effective against only 6 or 7 types of bacteria and are useless against viruses. Silver filters are found in the water fountains of every airliner and space craft to guarantee germ-free water. Silver is used by the Soviets to sterilize recycled water aboard the Mir Space Station. Silver is being used to replace chlorine in swimming pools, because it does not sting the eyes and offers greater germicidal action. Laboratory tests have shown that Colloidal Silver will kill most bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses within 2-6 minutes of contact. Many chronic infections, from pyorrhea to vaginal yeast infections, conditions which are often resistant to drug therapy, will quickly clear up with Colloidal Silver. It had always been a great mystery during the Middle Ages that while untold thousands of peasants died from the Bubonic Plague, most of the aristocracy remained untouched.
Why? Did the aristocracy enjoy some special protection from God that was being denied to the peasants (as was believed at the time)? Not exactly. Silver provided the protection. The aristocracy remained infection-free because their water and wine was stored in silver vessels which allowed silver atoms to migrate into the liquid and afford germicidal action. They also ate off silver plates, using silver utensils, and drank from silver goblets. During the last century, American Pioneers always put a silver dollar into a bucket of fresh milk in order to slow down its clabbering and souring. Despite years of research to find a superior pharmaceutical product, silver is still considered the most effective germ fighter and promoter of rapid healing in cases of severe burns. Silver is used in all major burn centers in the United States. UCLA medical labs found it effectively disabled every virus tested.
USES
As stated above, Colloidal Silver is lethal to over 650 types of bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and molds. However, it is completely non-toxic to the human body. For several decades, silver has proven itself in the treatment of burns, and eye, ear, nose, throat, vaginal, rectal, and urinary tract infections. Silver has been prescribed as an adjunct treatment for reproductive disorders in women and the circulatory system, as well as a treatment for AIDS infective complications. It has been used as a remedy for allergies, boils, ulcers, lesions, thyroid conditions, infantile diseases, parasites, wounds of the cornea, enlarged prostate, warts, bladder inflammation, infections of the eustachian tubes, sleepwalking and anorexia nervosa. Colloidal silver also acts as a tissue regenerator by stimulating the production of de-differentiating cells, which promotes the replacement of specialized cells.
For your pets, Colloidal Silver can clear up cases of ulcerative and infective skin conditions due to flea infestation, mange, dermatitis, etc. It has proven to be effective against canine parvo virus, feline leukemia, and ringworm. For more uses of Colloidal Silver, please read the article, "A Few Unique Plus Traditional Uses For Silver Colloid", by Dr. Bob Beck.
A Brief History
The properties of silver have been known for thousands of years.
Throughout the ages, silver was the hidden ingredient utilized by knowledgeable healers to fight any type of infection. It was not until the late 1800's that Western scientists were able to prove what had been known in other civilizations for thousands of years--that silver was a proven germ fighter!
After researchers discovered that the body prefers to utilize colloidal minerals, the endless possibilities which could occur from the use of colloids in medicine were exploited. Colloidal Silver proved to be enormously effective against infectious organisms and extremely safe to use, without the negative side effects associated with drugs. As a result, Colloidal Silver was widely used in medicine as one of the main-stays of antimicrobial treatment. It became the choice of medical practitioners.
Throughout the early 1900's Colloidal Silver rapidly gained recognition as one of the best infection-preventive agents, but unfortunately its availability was limited due to the high cost of colloidal silver production combined with the fact that colloidal silver could not be patented. This profit limitation prompted the development of more profitable infection-fighting drugs. Silver was ignored while new patented antibiotic drugs became the choice of medical treatment. However, as is common when we deviate from Nature's path, serious unforeseen problems were inevitable.
Today, fifty years after the advent of patented pharmaceutical antibiotics, many types of bacteria, which were once susceptible to these drugs, have mutated to drug-resistant strains.
Over the years, the medical establishment has reported on the new strains of "Super Bugs" that are resistant to every pharmaceutical antibiotic.
Newsweek Magazine reported in March 28, 1994 that in 1992, 13,000 hospital patients died of infections that were resistant to every drug hospital physicians tried. Also, it is a well known fact that pharmaceutical antibiotics are detrimental to the natural flora of the colon. Colloidal Silver does not disturb this very necessary environment.
Fortunately, the timely re-emergence of Colloidal Silver--due to new production technology--may prove to be one of the best remedies the public now has to protect themselves from disease, new and old.
Problems With Pharmaceuticals
Simply stated, the problem is multiple drug resistant (MDR) strains of Bacteria are becoming commonplace. Within five years of the widespread use of penicillin after World War ll, scientists were discovering that bacteria such as Staphylococcus were developing a resistance to penicillin. Drug companies have poured millions of dollars into new research during the 60s, 70s, and 80s, to develop new antibiotics which could overcome these
resistant strains. It appears that every disease-causing bacterium has strains that can resist at least one, if not most of pharmaceuticals' antibiotics. The prophylactic overuse of antibiotics is giving life to the spread of mutant microbes. Since the 1970s, various studies have concluded that 50 to 60 percent of all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions are inappropriate. Other studies have found that seven in ten Americans receive antibiotics when they seek treatment for common colds. Dr. Lee Green of Family Practitioners at the University of Michigan states, "We have a tradition of prescribing antibiotics to anybody who looks sick." As a result of the overuse of antibiotics, sales have nearly doubled since the mid 1980s. Likewise, drug-resistant infections have also increased.
Bacterial tests are not covered in many insurance policies, encouraging doctors to make sloppy diagnosis. Drug companies encourage the situation by promotion of their products through extensive advertising and providing doctors with free samples. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that many patients do not use the antibiotics their doctors prescribe in accordance with the doctor's instruction. Many stop taking their medication after just a few days when it has killed many of the most susceptible microbes, leaving hardened survivors to flourish.
Aside from being harder to treat, the resistant microbes can actually spread their immunity to different bacteria! An already serious problem is compounded when many patients save their unused drugs for later use.
Recently, Dr. Thomas Beam of the Buffalo, New York VA Medical Center, summarized this health dilemma completely when he stated, "RESISTANT INFECTIONS ARE PRESENT IN EVERY HOSPITAL AND NURSING HOME."
Super bugs are scattered everywhere including hospitals. No one has an exclusive on them. Patients are being stricken with drug resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, a bacteria that infects surgical wounds and can cause pneumonia and systemic blood infections. The Los Angeles Times stated on October 23, 1994 that "in the last decade, a broad resistance to antibiotics has begun to emerge. And because bacteria can transfer genes among themselves, experts only expect the resistance to grow. The potential nightmare is an Andromeda strain, which is immune to all antibiotics and could wreak havoc." ("Arsenal of Antibiotics Failing as Resistant Bacteria Develop").
Drugs such as penicillin and tetracycline lost their power over staph in the 50s and 60s. Methicilllin, another antibiotic, is now experiencing resistance. It was recently reported that in some 20 percent of nations gonorrhea is now resistant to one or more antibiotics. A startling proportion of TB now resists the drug, Isoniazid. There is an enormous health crisis in the making, and pharmaceutical antibiotics do not hold the answer. It is blatantly obvious to anyone who does research on this subject that new emerging diseases and super bugs
(not to mention the threat of biological attack from terrorist groups and nations like Iraq) are more of a threat now than ever before. Colloidal Silver can provide people with additional, non-prescriptive immunity armor to protect themselves. And unlike pharmaceutical drugs, no pathogen has ever develop a resistance to Colloidal Silver.
Health Concerns
While having gone unnoticed by a large portion of the population, there are numerous new emerging diseases which are beginning to manifest themselves with greater and greater frequency at ever widening locations across the country. In addition to this, the threat of biological attack from nations such as Iraq, as well as various terrorist groups has become increasingly prominent. Recently, news stories about terrorists using biological agents like Anthrax, to emerging diseases such as Flesh- Eating Bacteria, Multiple Drug Resistant Staph, Hanta Virus, Mad Cow Disease, Pfiesteria ("Red Tide"), Meningitis, Australian Flu, Bird Flu, E-coli, etc. have become commonplace.
Moreover, diseases that we were previously controllable with pharmaceutical antibiotics are adapting themselves and becoming resistant to virtually all of our pharmaceutical drugs. A good example is the dangerous strain of the common staph germ, Staphylococcus aureus. It now has doctors worried because it has developed a resistance to pharmaceuticals' most powerful antibiotic, Vancomycin (CNN May 28, Aug 22, & Sept 5, 1997). The percentage of Staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960 was 13; the percentage resistant in 1997 was 99. Clearly, a non-pharmaceutical solution is required.
Unfortunately, while some television shows, such as Dateline and Nova, have examined the issue of emerging diseases, the true extent of the danger is barely perceived by the public. The problem goes unnoticed, so more and more people remain unaware, unprotected, and vulnerable.
Conflicting Information
In some cases, written articles and web sites which promote colloidal silver present conflicting information on a given issue. Also, some news articles or web sites have an agenda of debunking the use of colloidal silver altogether. The hidden hand behind the latter is usually pharmaceutical companies or orthodox medical interests who wish to make all alternative therapies and natural medicines go away (for obvious reasons).While we don't claim to be the final authority on colloidal silver, the dissemination of honest information is our goal. Our opinion on some of the more contentious issues follows:
Toxicity & Concentration
The weight of historical and laboratory evidence seem to indicate that there is no known toxic concentration level of Colloidal Silver in normal use. While some writers will indicate that 5-10 ppm (parts per million) or 10-20 ppm is the "ideal concentration", numerous studies have shown that 30, 40, 50, 60 ppm or even higher concentrations are nonetheless completely non-toxic. It has been our experience that higher concentrations might speed healing in those cases where the colloidal silver can remain in direct contact with the pathogenic organism, as with pyorrhea, acne, or vaginal infection, for example. Systemically, however, lower concentrations seem to work as well as higher concentrations for general prophylactic immunity boosting.
The only known toxic reaction to silver occurred during World War II when silver plates were used to replace missing skull bone in severely injured GI's. Normally, the blood-brain barrier prevents silver from entry into this domain. This mechanical barrier effectively blocks silver from entry into the brain or spinal cord area, the only part of the body where it would be toxic to nerve cells.
Blue/Grey Skin
Proponents of pharmaceuticals have attempted to debunk the use of Colloidal Silver based on a fraudulent claim that Colloidal Silver can cause Argyria, a rare condition that results in a bluish/grey tinting of the skin.
What these de-bunkers fail to mention is that all known cases of Argyria are due to long-term exposure and systemic absorption of silver compounds, usually in the form of protein compounds. Colloidal silver is silver in its elemental form. The body does not store excess elemental silver, but rather eliminates it, as with other heavy metals, via the metallothioneins. These ubiquitous proteins bind heavy metals into metal-thiolate-cluster complexes and remove them from the body.
The Color
When making colloidal silver, no other issue inspires more debate than the matter of what constitutes the 'correct' color. Most writers support yellow or a golden yellow as the ideal color, but some writers suggests that a clear solution is preferred. Others argue that a white/cloudy solution is better. Here's the lowdown as we see it:
White/Cloudy Color
The white/cloudy color is produced when you make colloidal silver using a mineralized water (tap, well water, mountain spring bottled water, etc.) or you add an ionizing agent like sodium chloride (table salt) to the water. The silver ions combine with the free anions in the water and produce silver salts such as Silver Chloride. Many entrepreneurs who are selling colloidal silver today learned how to do it from the tapes, lectures, or written articles of Dr. Bob Beck who has been lecturing at health expos since 1992 on how to make colloidal silver at home at very low cost. Up until 1997, Bob had recommended using tap water and/or adding a small amount of table salt to ionize the solution. Fellow health researcher , Merlin D. Wolf, however, recommended to Bob to use distilled water heated to near boiling and avoid adding the salt entirely. The heated water allows electrolysis to take place while at the same time avoiding the problem of producing silver salts. This is the preferred technique that Bob embraces today.
Yellow Color
One of the more cogent explanations for the often touted yellow color was offered by Peter A. Lindemann in his article about colloidal silver entitled: Colloidal Silver, A Closer Look. To quote Peter's article directly:
There has been a fair amount of controversy in the public literature concerning the appearance of the "yellow" color. A lot of well meaning people have told me that "yellow is bad", "silver isn't yellow", "yellow is sulfur contamination", "yellow is iron contamination", and lots of other things. I finally found what I believe to be the answer to this question in a book titled Practical Colloid Chemistry, published in London in 1926. In the section on the "Colours of Colloidal Metals", sub-section on the "Polychromism of silver solutions" on page 69, I found the following statements:
"The continuous change in colour from yellow to blue corresponds to a change in the absorption maximum of the shorter to longer wave-lengths with a decreasing degree of dispersion. This is a general phenomenon in colloid chemistry illustrating the relation between colour and degree of dispersion." This section goes on to describe the colors that show up in a wide variety of colloidal metal solutions. Interestingly, they ALL have a yellow phase. For true "electro-colloidal" silver, the particle size range that can appear yellow is .01 to .001microns (10 to 100 angstroms) because that is the size of silver particle that best absorbs the indigo light, leaving only its inverse color, yellow, to be observed. The final transparent-yellow appearance only shows up after the particles have become evenly dispersed.
Clear Color
A few individuals who sell colloidal silver or colloidal silver generators claim that a clear solution is more desirable. According to Dr Bob Beck, silver atoms sinter off the wire in equal particle size (approximately .001 microns) when using a DC generator of approximately 30 volts. Therefore, with a DC generator, distilled water will usually begin to turn a pale yellow color when the concentration approaches 7-10 ppm. Higher concentrations reveal a deeper yellow color, while lower concentrations (usually 1-5 ppm) display more of a clear color.
Purity of the Silver Wire
Most commercial and home producers of colloidal silver that we have talked to use silver electrodes of 99.9% purity. As explained below, it seems to be the best choice when one weighs both economy and safety. Again quoting from Peter Lindemann's article, A Closer Look: The quality of your finished product depends entirely on the purity of the water you start with and the purity of the silver you start with. Most of the current literature suggests that only 99.9999% pure silver can be used. Most home brew systems use 99.9% pure silver. So, what is the difference? To find out, I contacted Academy Metals, a company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that produces commercial silver. The total allowable impurities in 99.9% (.999 fine) silver is 1000 ppm or 1 part in 1000. These impurities and their maximums are 1) Copper, 800 ppm, 2) Lead, 250 ppm, 3) Iron, 200 ppm, and 4) Bismuth, 10 ppm. This product is readily available in wire form and costs about $3.00 above the market (spot) price of silver. When this product is used to make electro-colloidal silver at a concentration of 5 ppm, the total impurities from the silver drop to 4 ppb (parts per billion) copper, 1.25 ppb lead, 1 ppb iron, .05 ppb bismuth. With all allowable impurities at these low levels, there is a reasonable argument for not being concerned. Still, sometimes small things make a big difference. 99.99% silver (.9999 fine) has total allowable impurities of 100 ppm of the same metals in the same ratios, and costs (in wire form) between $50-$90 above the spot price of silver. 99.999% silver (.99999 fine) has total allowable impurities of 10 ppm and in wire form costs about $250 above the spot price. 99.9999% silver, in wire form, costs more than gold and is very difficult to find commercially. In one sample of 10 ppm colloidal silver we sent out for total analysis (made with 99.9% silver electrodes), the primary impurities found were: 1) Sodium, 470 ppb, 2) Calcium, 260 ppb, 3) Manganese, 70 ppb, 4) Potassium, 50 ppb, and 5) Magnesium, 24 ppb. Since none of these impurities could have come from the silver, it suggests that the purity of the water should be of greater concern to the person making their own colloidal silver, than spending extra money on purer silver. ________________________________________________________________
"Report: Colloidal Silver."
Vol. 15 No. 4 Health Consciousness Magazine.
Silver is a powerful, natural prophylactic/antibiotic used for thousands of years, with no side effects. It is a catalyst, disabling the particular enzyme that all one-celled bacteria, fungus and virus, use for their oxygen metabolism, they suffocate. Yet it is of no harm to human enzymes or any part of the human body chemistry. And it kills all disease-causing organisms, in six minutes or less, upon contact, even those pleomorphic, no matter how they mutate. Resistant strains fail to develop, and the body doesn't develop a tolerance. Colloidal Silver is both a remedy and a prevention of infections of any kind. Having sufficient Colloidal Silver in your body is to have a superior, second immune system. It was in common use until 1938. Great Grandma put a silver dollar in the milk, to keep it fresh at room temperature. (Ref-1,9)
Established Usage
Most adults take 1-2 teaspoons daily and increased doses if they feel a cold or flu or other illness coming on(and proportional, by body weight, for children), or apply directly to cuts, scrapes and open sores, or put a few drops on a small Band-Aid and wear over warts, cuts, abrasions, or any open sore, or dab directly onto eczema or such itchy areas, or acne, mosquito bites, or any skin problem. Water is purified by adding one half-teaspoon per gallon, shake well, wait six minutes, and shake again, wait six minutes, and drink. Mix it this way, it's tasteless, and drink two quarts, over a day's time, especially with meals, as a great digestive aid, because it eliminates fermentation. It is the ideal food preservative, because it is also good for you. Use in canning at one-quarter teaspoon per quart. Those already using Colloidal Silver report that they catch milder, and fewer if any, colds or flu. The emphasis is on the prevention of all infections. There are never any side effects. It never does any harm to the liver, kidneys, any other organ, system or any part of the body. No-one has ever overdosed, regardless of the amount, as it is not at all an allopathic
poison. (Ref-1,7,9,11,12,d)
Additionally
There has never been a drug interaction with any other medication. Colloidal Silver has been found to be both a remedy and a prevention for all colds, all flu, all infections and all fermentation due to any bacteria, fungus or virus, especially staph and strep, which are found present in every disease condition. Through simple, high school biology studies we learn that all living things exist in the colloidal form. The body can more readily use medications already in the colloidal form, as opposed to crystalline. Colloidal Silver is the most useable form of the most effective disease fighter there is. The body actually needs Colloidal Silver to fight disease-causing organisms, and to aid healing. The adult RDA for Silver is 400 milligrams. Taken orally each day, it's like having a second immune system. Older folks feel younger because their body energies are used for something other than fighting disease, and digestion is better. Medical research has proven that Silver promotes rapid healing, with less scar tissue, even in the case of severe burns. Silver aids the developing fetus in growth, health, and eases the delivery and recovery. Fantastic successes have been reported in many cases previously given up by establishment doctors. Colloidal Silver is tasteless and won't sting, even Baby's eyes and won't upset the stomach.
It is produced today by a modernized original process, at a tiny fraction of the pre-1938 cost, and is more concentrated. Contains no free radicals, as the Silver acts only as a catalyst, and is stabilized. This is not a chemical compound containing Silver, but pure metallic silver of submicroscopic clusters of just a few atoms, held in suspension, in pure water, by the tiny electric charge on each atom. It is absolutely non-toxic, (except to one-celled plants and animals), and non-addicting. Colloidal Silver is the remedy for all infections, even the non-apparent, low-grade general body infections most people have. Parasites are also killed, as they have an egg-stage in their reproductive cycle, which is one-celled and therefore killed in six minutes or less). Keep from freezing and in a cool, dark place. (Ref-1,2,9,12)
Ref-1
Use of Colloids in Health and Disease. Colloidal Silver is proven particularly effective in cases of intestinal troubles. Dr. Henry Crooks found that silver in the colloidal state is highly germicidal, quite harmless to humans and absolutely non-toxic. Rather than in a chemical compounds the Silver, in the Colloidal state, may be applied in a much more concentrated form, with correspondingly better results. All fungus, virus, bacterium, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and other pathogenic organisms are killed in three or four minutes; in fact, there is no microbe known that is not killed by Colloidal Silver in six minutes or less, at a dilution of as little as 5 parts per million, though there are no side effects whatsoever from high concentrations.
Ref-2
Provo Herald 13 Feb. 92, pg.D1: Colloidal Silver as a cure for AIDS.
Ref-3
American Drug Index, section on Inorganic Pharmaceutical Chemistry, recognized Silver for its germicidal action, calling a stabilized form: Mild Silver Protein. There are several forms of Mild silver Protein.
Ref-4
The Condensed Chemical Dictionary 6th Edition: Mild Silver Protein is listed for medical use, (the "Protein" is the trace used as a stabilizer).
Ref-5
The FDA has stated that because Colloidal Silver is (by fifty years) a pre-1938 drug, it may continue to be marketed. A 13 Sept. 1991, letter received from consumer safety officer, Harold Davis, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Moreover, the FDA has no jurisdiction regarding a pure, mineral element.
Ref-6Environmental Protection Agency's Poison control Center reports no toxicity listing for Colloidal Silver, considering it harmless in any concentration.
Ref-7
Dr. Robert Becker The Body Electric, recognized a correlation between low Silver levels and sickness. He said the Silver deficiency was responsible for the improper functioning of the immune system. Dr.Becker's experiments conclude that Silver works on the full spectrum of pathogens without any side effects or damage to any cells of the body, (being tissue and not single cells). He also states that the Silver was doing something more than killing disease-causing organisms. It was also causing major growth stimulation of injured tissues. Burn patients and even elderly patients noticed more rapid healing. And he discovered that all cancer cells change back to normal cells. All strains of pathogens resistant to other antibiotics are killed by Silver. Yet at that time he couldn't find a Silver supplement on the market.
Ref-8
Dr.Bjorn Nordstrom, of the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, has used Silver in his cancer cure method, for many years. He says the whole thing is quite simple. This brought rapid remission in patients given up by other doctors.
Ref-9
Silver Our Mightiest Germ Fighter Science Digest March 1978. As an antibiotic, Silver kills over 650 disease-causing organisms; resistant strains fail to develop. Silver is absolutely non-toxic. Silver is the best all around germ-fighter we have. Doctors are reporting that, taken internally, it works against syphilis, cholera and malaria, diabetes and severe burns. Richard L. Davies, executive director of the Silver Institute, which monitors Silver technology in 37 countries, reports: "In four years we've described 87 important new medical uses for Silver."
Ref-10
Colloidal Preparations of Silver in Pharmacy British Medical Journal, Feb 1923 , Pure silver is entirely non-irritant. In tests at very high dilution rates, exceeding two-hundred to one, it has been shown repeatedly that the rapidly exerted disinfectant action is of considerable therapeutic value.
Ref-11
"Medical Silver Home Remedies" Maurace Worthington, M.D., 1928.
Ref-12
Dr. Otto Warburg (Nobel Prize 1932) Said cancer is caused by a lack of oxygen and the fermentation of sugar.
"Colloidal Silver -- Universal Internal/External Antibiotic."
ECHO News
Silver is one of the most universal disinfectants known. Silver is as effective as powerful chemical disinfectants and is relatively harmless.
There is no known disease causing organism that can live in the presence of even minute traces of metallic silver. By the beginning of this century silver was a proven germ fighter. A solution known as colloidal silver was commonly used in medicine as a mainstay of antibiotic treatment. Although it was considered to be "high-tech" at this time, compared to today's Colloidal Silver solutions it was technically inferior. One of the drawbacks was the particle size of the silver never reached its optimal ultra-microscopic size and therefore, its highest level of efficacy. Even so, such prestigious journals as Lancet (1914) published the results of scientific studies and examined the many successful uses of Colloidal Silver. Results were phenomenal. Dr. Henry Crooks, an early pioneer in colloidal chemistry, found Colloidal Silver highly germicidal, harmless to humans and absolutely non-toxic.
Silver, in its colloidal form, has been proven to be useful against many different infections and is non-toxic in concentrations of 3-5 ppm against all species of fungi, bacteria, protozoa, parasites and certain viruses.
Based on laboratory tests, destructive bacterial, viral and fungal organisms are killed within minutes of contact. Larry C. Ford, M.D. of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UCLA School Medicine, Center for the Health Sciences, reported in a letter dated November, 1988: "I tested them (the silver solutions) using standard antimicrobial tests for disinfectants.
The silver solutions were anti-bacterial for concentrations of 10 organisms per ml of Streptococcus, Pyogenes, Staphylococcus Aureus, Neisseria Gonorrhea, Gardnerella, Vaginalis, Salmonella Typhi, and other enteric pathogens, and fungicidal for Candida Albicans, Candida Globata and M. Furfur."
Jim Powel reported in a Science Digest article, 1978 pp. 59-60 titled, Our Mightiest Germ Fighter, "Thanks to eye-opening research, silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine. An antibiotic kills perhaps a half-dozen different organisms, but silver kills some 650. Resistant strains fail to develop. Moreover, silver is virtually non-toxic." Pioneering silver researcher, Dr. Harry Margraf, believes that "Silver is the best all around germ fighter we have." Dr. Richard L. Davies says "We're just beginning to see to what extent silver can relieve suffering and save lives. In four years we've discovered 87 important new medical uses for silver." From his extensive experiments with silver in medicine, Dr. Robert O. Becker, M.D. concluded: "What we have actually done was rediscover the fact that silver killed bacteria, which had been known for centuries....when antibiotics were discovered, clinical uses for silver were discarded."
Laboratory Results
As you can see from this report, there is a narrow range where the concentration of colloidal silver works the very best. If the concentration is a bit too low, then as one can see with the Staphylococcus aureus, the growth is a bit higher at 9 PPM than it is at 15 PPM. Similarly, there is a point above the 15 to 25 PPM level where the effectiveness of the colloidal silver goes down as well. Clearly, the adage, more is better, is not necessarily true when it comes to the effectiveness of colloidal silver. It is interesting to note that the early-part-of-century reports have pretty much the same results as the report from Molecular Biologics. There is an optimum concentration range (15 to 25 PPM) for colloidal silver.This study by Molecular Biologics is one of the most recent laboratory studies acquired. There have been many other similar studies conducted. Some have been done in the last five or six years. However, the majority of studies on the effectiveness of various concentrations of colloidal silver were conducted before 1938. In fact, it has been the 1916's to the 1919's in which we find the greatest number of reports on the subject.
March 6, 1996 - California, Molecular Biologics Laboratory Report
A. Culture Media
The nutrient broth for growing the microbes contained 5.0 grams of beef extract and 20 grams of peptone in one liter of purified water. 5 mls of broth was pipetted into test tubes and autoclaved.
B. Microbes
Using four regular nutrient broth test tubes, one disk of each microbe was added to each one. All four test tubes were incubated for 24 hours at 35 degrees Celsius. A blank control of the broth was also incubated.
C. Reagents
Using a 1.0% silver solution and nutrient broth, dilutions of silver solution were made: 0.10%, 0.05%, 0.025%, 0.005%, and 0.0025%. Four sets of the dilutions were made and inoculated with each microbe. The four sets of inoculated silver solution dilutions were incubated at 35 degrees Celsius for 24 hours.
D. Results
Silver content and a microscopic exam using a hemacytometer was done on each dilution for each microorganism. The blank nutrient broth showed no growth.
Salmonella thyphi: Microscopic exam of the control showed >25 colonies per counting square.
10, 13 and 24 PPM Silver... no growth
84 PPM Silver... >2 colonies per counting square
179 PPM Silver... 5 colonies per counting square
Conclusion: Results showed luxuriant growth without silver and a 80 to 100% reduction of microbes with silver.
Staphylococcus aureus: Microscopic exam of the control showed >30 colonies per counting square.
9 PPM Silver... 3 colonies
15 PPM Silver... 1 colony
43 PPM Silver... >1 colony
84 PPM Silver... 8 colonies
139 PPM Silver... 5 colonies
Conclusion: 73 to near 100% reduction of microbes with silver.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Microscopic exam of control showed >30 colonies per counting square.
18 PPM Silver... >1 colony
44 PPM Silver... 2 colonies
89 PPM Silver... 3 colonies
178 PPM Silver... 3 colonies
Conclusion: 90 to near 100% reduction in microbes with silver.
Escherichia coli: Microscopic exam of the control showed >15 colonies per counting square.
10, 40, and 44 PPM Silver... No Growth
70 PPM Silver... 2 colonies
89 PPM Silver... 1 colony
Conclusion: 87 to 100% reduction with silver.
Colloidal Silver testimony from a lab tech at the University of NM
Now as most health care workers know Silver has been used for centuries as a natural antibiotic until the latter part of the 20th century. Diluted silver nitrite was dropped in newborns eyes to protect them from any STDs that the mother my have.
The bad part of Colloidal Silver comes not from the silver itself but from adding salts to it. A lot of people add Sea Salts to the solution to increase the activity during generations. High quantities of silver combined with certain salts (Chlorides, Bromides, Flourides etc) are very toxic to the body. That is where most of the ill side effects of it happen. Follow the directions you get from Cope his are the easiest and the most accurate out there. Use distilled or RO water and pure silver. City water is the worst to use since Chlorine and Flourine are added to keep it safe for the idiots that do not know better than to drink bad water.
Also not all doctors are close-minded to alternative medicine. One of my duties is that I collect and process samples from an HIV clinic that our hospital runs. The director of the clinic is considering testing Colloidal Silver on patients who want it. She has looked over my lab data and thinks it may have a chance to work since it does not harm the body as do the standard cocktails given to the patients and it has shown promise in defeating viruses such as the common cold. Now we all know the FDA would never sanction a drug that cost a 30-60 buck initial investment and then about 5 bucks a month to make. NO PROFIT IN IT! But she thinks that if patients are shown how to make the generators and it does work against the scourge of the 20th century what can it hurt? Except to maybe lower the tax burden for supporting these folks with drugs that cost hundreds of dollars per month multiplied by the millions of people who have it.
Hi Ho Silver Away!
(Mild Silver Protein and its effectiveness against internal and topical infections.) by James South MA
Silver (Ag) is atomic element number 47 with an atomic weight of 108. Unlike its heavy metal cousins, Silver is surprisingly non-toxic to humans and animals and has a long history of successful medical and public health use dating back 6000 years!
Silver has been used to speed wound healing, treat infections, purify water and preserve beverages. For example, the ancient Macedonians covered wounds with silver plates to speed healing (1), and N.R. Thompson has noted that "The germicidal properties of silver, although not recognized as such, have been utilized since the times of the ancient Mediterranean and Asiatic cultures, references being made to the use of silver vessels to prevent spoilage of beverages, and silver foil or plates in the surgical treatment of wounds and broken bones."(2)
The modern era of Silver usage began in 1893, when C. Von Nageli reported the first systematic investigation into the lethal effects of metals [especially silver] towards bacteria and lower life forms.... To primitive life forms oligodynamic silver is as toxic as the most powerful chemical disinfectants and this, coupled with its relative harmlessness to [animal] life, gives it great potential as a disinfectant.... The term 'oligodynamic' [silver refers to] solutions in which the metal ion concentration is many orders of magnitude below that which would be lethal to higher life forms."(2)
From 1900 to the beginning of the modern antibiotic era - circa 1940 with the introduction of sulfa drugs - Silver was one of the mainstays of medical practice in Europe and America. Various forms of Silver were used to treat literally hundreds of ailments: lung infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and pleurisy (3); sexual diseases such as gonorrhea and syphillis (4); skin conditions such as cuts, wounds, leg ulcers, pustular eczema, impetigo and boils (4); acute meningitis and epidemic cerebral-spinal meningitis (3); infectious diseases such as Mediterranean fever, erysipelas, cystitis, typhus, typhoid fever, and tonsilitis (3); eye disorders such as dacryocystitis, corneal ulcers, conjunctivitis and blepharitis (5); and various forms of septicemia, including puerperal fever, peritonitis and post-abortion septicemia (3,6). (This list does not even begin to exhaust the published medical uses for Silver in Europe and America, 1900-1940).
In 1939 Hill and Pillsbury listed 94 different proprietary Silver preparations in use up to that time (7). However, with the coming of the antibiotic era, Silver rapidly fell into disuse and the medical 'memory hole', as it was replaced first by sulfa drugs, then penicillin (post WWII), and since then by hundreds of specialized antibiotics.
Under the onslaught of antibiotic warfare, the second half of the 20th century witnessed the seeming eradication, or at least control, of most of mankind's ancient plague scourges. Indeed some major infectious diseases have been virtually wiped out in the modern world, (supposedly) thanks to antibiotics. By the late 1980's, antibiotics had so succeeded in controlling/eradicating most germ diseases, that medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies seriously slowed research into new antibiotics, thinking that there was no longer any need for (and not nearly enough 'big bucks' to be made from) newer and better antibiotics. Yet by the 1990's the picture began to change again.
Due to an antibiotic-accelerated Darwinian evolution of microbes, more and more germ species previously controlled by antibiotics began to develop ways to combat antibiotics. This in turn gave rise to so-called 'super-germs', such as killer E. coli, 'flesh-eating' strep A bacteria, multiple antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis bacteria and chloroguine-resistant malarial parasites (8,9). The over-prescription of antibiotics by doctors under pressure from their patients, for ailments where they are useless (e.g. against common viral diseases such as cold and flu); the failure of patients to take the full course of their prescribed antibiotics (allowing germs to recover and develop antibiotic resistance); and the widespread use of low-level antibiotics in animal feed to increase farmer's profits (40% of U.S. antibiotics go into animal feed), have all helped create antibiotic-resistant bacteria (8,9).
Some common (and dangerous) germs such as Staph aureus (found especially in hospitals) are now known to be resistant to all but one antibiotic-vancomycin - and soon are expected to be vancomycin-resistant too (8,9). "In 1992, 13,300 hospital patients died [in the U.S.] of bacterial infections that resisted the antibiotics fired at them, says the CDC (8)."
Thanks to NAFTA, widespread international air travel, eco-tourism to exotic third-world forests and islands, and massive migration of third-world peoples to Europe and America, hosts of exotic diseases once isolated to small areas of the planet are now showing up all over (8,9). Malaria is once again returning to the U.S. The exotic and deadly Ebola virus has broken out in a lab in Maryland. Shigella (which causes dysentery) was practically unheard of in America before 1990, but it is now being spread from contaminated fruits and vegetables imported into the U.S. under NAFTA, and is now routinely seen at clinics in California.
Perhaps the scariest scenario that may present a need for a powerful, broad-spectrum antimicrobial such as Silver is the late 1990's threat of 'bio-terrorism.' It is now widely expected by bio-warfare and terrorism experts that, whether due to small groups of terrorists, or as a form of warfare by 'rogue'/totalitarian nations such as China, Iran, Libya, N. Korea, Syria, or Russia, it is only a matter of time before 'germ warfare' is unleashed in Europe or America (10). And if the super-germs released have been produced in sophisticated bio-warfare labs, they will probably have been genetically altered to make them resistant to the antibiotics normally used to treat that species of germ - e.g. tetracycline/doxycycline normally used to treat Anthrax (the number 1 favorite of 'bio-warfare warriors' world-wide) (10). It is interesting to note that silver - both in liquid solution and as an airborne-aerosol - has been known since 1887 to be extremely toxic to Anthrax spores (1,10,11,12). And it is widely reported in the medical literature on Silver that various forms of Silver, often at surprisingly low concentrations, routinely kills germs that are known to be antibiotic-resistant (11,13,19,20).
Most antibiotics have an optimal effectiveness against only a few different disease germs; even broad-spectrum antibiotics may kill only 10-20 different types of bacteria. Also, most antibiotics that kill bacteria will not kill fungus/yeasts, protozoal parasites or viruses; antifungal antibiotics will not kill bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc. And virtually all known viruses are immune to virtually all known antibiotics.
Silver is unique among antimicrobial agents in its broad spectrum of action. It has been claimed to kill some 650 different disease organisms (13). And unlike antibiotics, Silver is an 'equal opportunity destroyer' - it doesn't discriminate, but effectively kills germs of all major types: gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, spore-forming bacteria, fungus/yeasts, viruses and protozoal parasites. Silver sulfadiazine (Silvadeneâ), used almost universally in hospitals to prevent serious burn infections (11), kills dozens of different bacteria (11,14,16); it also kills 95% of 72 strains of herpesvirus (15), as well as the protozoal parasite Plasmodium berghei (malaria) (17). Silvadeneâ also kills various yeasts, including several Aspergillus varieties, Mucor pusillus, Rhizopus nigricans and 50 different clinical isolates of Candida albicans (18).
Electrically-generated colloidal silver [Ag(e)] has been shown to kill dozens of bacteria, including Providencia stuartii, a germ already resistant in the 1970's to all antibiotics except amikacin (19), as well as two strains of Enterobacter cloacae that were isolated from burn patients and were relatively resistant even to Silvadeneâ (20). Ag(e) has also proved adept at killing various yeast/fungus species at very low Silver concentrations, including Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, C. pseudotropicalis, Torulopsis glabrata and Aspergillus niger (20,23).
Ag(e) has been shown to kill cysts of the common water-borne protozoal parasite Entamoeba histolytica (22). Ag(e) has also killed the protozoa Paramecium when exposed to 2.2 PPM Silver, as well as the protozoa Varicella at 5.9 PPM Silver (1).
Ag(e) was even somewhat effective in killing Poliovirus in swimming pool water, at the extremely low concentration of 0.015mg Silver per liter of water (15 parts per billion!) (21).
The proprietary silver compounds Certisil and Micropur, used to disinfect water, are effective against Bovine Enterovirus, Vacciniavirus (cowpox), Influenza A and Pseudorabies virus (21).
In short, as pioneering silver researcher Dr. Henry Margraf has stated, "Silver is the best all round germ-fighter we have." (13).
Historically, Silver has been used in 20th Century medicine in a wide variety of forms. It has been used as silver salts (e.g. Silver nitrate, Silver phosphate, Silver iodide, etc.) and Silver compounds (e.g. Silver sulfadiazine, Silver arsphenamine, zinc-Silver allantoinate) (11). Many of the doctors using silver in the first half of the 20th century preferred a colloidal form of Silver , either chemically or electrically produced (3,11). Mild silver protein and strong silver protein (Silver combined with proits broad spectrum of action. It has been claimed to kill some 650 different disease organisms (13). And unlike antibiotics, Silver is an 'equal opportunity destroyer' - it doesn't discriminate, but effectively kills germs of all major types: gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, spore-forming bacteria, fungus/yeasts, viruses and protozoal parasites. Silver sulfadiazine (Silvadene¨), used almost universally in hospitals to prevent serious burn infections (11), kills dozens of different bacteria (11,14,16); it also kills 95% of 72 strains of herpesvirus (15), as well as the protozoal parasite Plasmodium berghei (malaria) (17). Silvadene¨ also kills various yeasts, including several Aspergillus varieties, Mucor pusillus, Rhizopus nigricans and 50 different clinical isolates of Candida albicans (18).
Silver salts never achieved widespread use in medicine for several reasons. As Grier notes, "Water-soluble ionized preparation [i.e. silver salts] are generally corrosive, irritating and astringent." (11). Silver nitrate is notorious for being irritating to tissue and staining everything it touches (13). Also, silver salts are often not as effective as colloidal Silver or Silver proteins. For example, Simonetti and colleagues tested extremely dilute solutions of electro-colloidal Silver [Ag(e)] and Silver nitrate [Ag N03] against culture of two bacteria (E. coli and P. aeruginosa), a yeast (C. albicans) and a mould (A. niger). The levels of Silver ion tested were incredibly low: 108 PPB (0.108mcg/ml) and 10.8PPB (0.0108 mcg/ml). Simonetti et al concluded "Our experiments showed that the contact antimicrobial activity of Ag(e) was superior to that of AgNO3 against gram-positive and negative bacteria, C. albicans, and a filamentous mycete. Our contact tests confirmed the excellent antibacterial spectrum and the high potency of electrically generated silver demonstrated previously.... Anodic silver ions are very effective agents at low concentrations without any detrimental effect upon normal mammalian cells, and the [low] concentrations needed to inhibit the bacteria in in-vitro experiments have been confirmed clinical data." (23).
Silver salts also tend to be more toxic than silver proteins and colloidal silver. Thus, when Hussain et al tested AgNO3 on fresh human lymphocytes, they found 90% lymphocyte destruction when they were exposed to 50 micromoles Silver as AgNO3 for two hours. Yet when lymphocytes were exposed to 1200 micromoles Silver as a Silver-cysteine complex, there was no significant impairment of the lymphocytes at a silver dose 24 times greater than the AgNO3 provided (24). Thus, both modern science and early 1900's medical practice favor the use of either colloidal Silver or mild silver protein (strong silver protein contains less Silver than mild silver protein, but is generally more irritating to tissue [11]).
Electrically prepared colloidal silver [Ag(e)] is currently available from many sources, in potencies ranging from 3-5 PPM up to 500 PPM. Equally (or more) important than the silver level is the particle size and degree of dispersion. In a liquid colloid, the Silver does not actually dissolve in the liquid; rather, it exists as a suspension of microscopic particles floating around in the liquid medium. Properly made Ag(e) should contain particles approximately 0.01 to 0.001 microns in diameter (1 micron=one millionth of a meter, or 4/100,000 inch). At this tiny size, each particle is a cluster of perhaps 5-20 Silver atoms, with a positive electric charge. Because the particles are so tiny (and thus light), and because the charged particles repel and 'bounce off' each other, they can defy gravity and remain suspended in their water medium for months - even years when properly stored (away from light, at room temperature). However, over time the Silver particles may gradually absorb onto the walls of the container, gradually lowering the amount of Silver in suspension. The most thoroughly dispersed Ag(e) should be yellow in color, as colloid chemist H. Freundlich noted in 1992: "With increasing degree of dispersion the color of silver sols [colloids] changes from grey green through lilac and red to yellow." (25). Because each Ag(e) particle contains 5-20 Silver ions, the particles act as a time-release mechanism to provide continuous germ-killing Silver ion availability, as single Silver ions gradually break off from their parent microclusters.
MILD SILVER PROTEIN: PROS & CONS
Mild silver protein (MSP) is made by various chemical processes that ultimately create a 19-25% Silver content, the remainder being a protein (11). Like Ag(e), MSP is also made in various potencies from 10 to 500 PPM Silver. The protein acts as a stabilizer and solubilizer for the Silver particles, preventing them from combining with each other to form ever-larger particles that would gradually settle out of suspension. Thus, the shelf-life of MSP is generally longer than for Ag(e). DEDI guarantees its MSP to have a 6-year shelf-life. The Silver protein combination also acts as a time-release mechanism to gradually liberate Silver ions.
DEDI's MSP is produced in their FDA-licensed pharmaceutical laboratory to stringent quality standards, since it is an OTC-licensed 'drug,' Thus one can be more assured of the quality of DEDI's MSP than one can be of the various Ag(e) products produced and sold by the health food industry, as they are normally not produced in registered/licensed pharmaceutical labs.
HOW SAFE IS SILVER?
A hundred years of published clinical and experimental research has demonstrated Silver to be a surprisingly safe substance, unlike its heavy-metal cousins lead, mercury, cadmium and gold. In general, Silver salts are more toxic than Ag(e) or mild Silver protein, but are still relatively non-toxic. Thus Romans notes: "Sollman (1943) observed that silver nitrate in doses of 0.01 [10mg] to 0.1g [100mg] by mouth produces no symptoms and swallowing pieces of [silver nitrate] pencils up to 2.5g is often harmless, but larger quantities cause acute gastritis. These reactions are purely local. From 2 to 30g has caused death within a few hours to a few days; 10g are generally fatal, but the ingestion of 30g has been survived.... For many years silver compounds were considered the most effective agents available for the prevention and treatment of gonorrheal infections.... The silver proteinates, especially of the argyrol type [i.e. mild silver protein], have been used extensively in the treatment of infections of the mucous membranes of the eyes, ears, nose and throat. Thus it has been shown that silver compounds are useful germicides and that effective doses are harmless." (12).
Writing in the Lancet in 1912, physician C.E. MacLeod reported based upon his widespread clinical use of chemically-produced colloidal Silver that "They [silver 'collosols' of 500 PPM strength] may be applied topically, hypodermically, intravenously, or by the mouth, and being non-toxic the dose hypodermically is unlimited, and experimental injections of 1 to 2 c.c. of 500 PPM Silver would supply 1/2 to 1mg Silver .
French physician B.G. Duhamel reported on the use of Electrargol (an electro-colloidal Silver providing 400 PPM Silver) also in the Lancet in 1912. He stated that "They [Ag(e) preparations] are employed as a rule for the sake of their constitutional effects, for which purpose an injection of from 5 to 20 c.c. [2 to 8 mg Silver] is made into muscle or... into the veins.... Similarly, the colloid [Silver] products can be injected... into the spinal canal (cerebro-spinal meningitis).... the most remarkable effects follow the intravenous injection of these colloids; indeed in some instances the patients have been rescued from apparently inevitable death.... One point stands out prominently, and that is the absolute innocuousness of these [Silver colloids], whether injected into the veins or muscles or into the spinal canal.... the dose is determined solely by the requirements of the case since they are devoid of toxicity."
T.H. Sanderson-Wells, reporting on the successful treatment of a case of puerperal septicemia by injection of "collosol argentum" (a 500 PPM chemical-colloidal Silver), noted that Ò20 c.cm. of collosol argentum [=10 mg Silver] produced no untoward effects." (28)
Most of the quantitative safety data on Silver comes from a large number of animal studies done in the past century. Thus, "Huebner found that with intravenous injection into rabbits the minimum lethal dose of the non-colloidal silver thio-sulfate was 0.01 to 0.03 gram per kilo, while the minimum lethal dose of colloidal silver was 0.065 gram per kilo." (27) This would equate to an injection dose for a 70kg/154 pound human of 4550 mg.
M.S. Wysor tested high doses of Silver sulfadiazine (30% Silver) in mice every day for a month. He reported that "Doses of 1,050 mg/kg when administered by oral and subcutaneous routes were not toxic.... No deaths occurred within the two experimental groups ... during the 30-day test period.... At the end of the test period, all the animals were sacrificed and tissue sections sent to the Department of Pathology for analysis. Histological studies showed that there was no obvious pathology in any of the groups receiving silver sulfadizine for the test period. There was no weight loss in any of the groups and no evidence of behavioral changes. None of the animals exhibited diarrhea." (17). A 1,050 mg/kg dose of Silver sulfadiazine would translate into roughly 22 grams of elemental Silver for a 70kg/154 pound person.
Hill and Pillsbury report results of many animal Silver toxicity studies in their 1939 book on Silver. For example, "Lentz has administered a saturated solution of a silver oxide containing 1.52 grams per liter intravenously in doses as large as 4 c.c. three times daily for a period of three weeks to various animals without producing any apparent toxic effects." (7). An equivalent dose for a 70kg human would provide 1190 mg Silver daily.
"Gompel and Henri studied the effects of repeated injections of a dilute colloidal silver solution over long periods in guinea pigs. Using a solution containing 0.25 gram in 1000 c.c. [=250 PPM Silver] they found that the intravenous administration of 1 or 2 c.c. to guinea pigs daily for two months caused no particular symptoms [= approximately 17.5 to 35 mg Silver daily for a 70 kg person]. This was also true in rabbits when 10 c.c. were given intravenously for 10 days [=approximately 88 mg Silver daily for a 70 kg human]." (7).
"To a series of 16 rabbits, massive doses of 66.7 mgm. of silver arsphenamine per kilo were administered [intravenously] at intervals from three to seven days. In a series of four rabbits, relatively excessive doses of 10 mgm. per kilo were given. The minimal dose given was a total of 227 mgm. of the compound in 47 days.
The silver content of the drug was 14.5%.... Hooper and Meyers found that silver arsphenamine did not produce any diffuse kidney lesions and that the... cells of the liver were in all cases well preserved. The majority of the rabbits showed a gradual increase in hemoglobin and red blood cells during the experiment, while the white cell count and the differential cell count remained within normal limits.
From this study it is seen that in spite of the administration of silver arsphenamine in amounts far exceeding that employed clinically [in humans], no significant toxic effects were observed." (7). The total silver amounts used in this experiment would equate to a minimum of 2304 mg Silver to a maximum of 23.98 grams Silver for a 70kg human.
By now the point should be clear: especially when taken orally, silver is a reasonably non-toxic metal for humans, and is even fairly non-toxic when injected, especially at the modest dosage level of 10 mg daily or less. Early 1900's silver injection medical protocols typically provided 1-10 mg Silver daily, sometimes more.
ARGYRIA: THE DARK (BLUE-GREY) SIDE OF SILVER
Given the broad range of silver's efficacy against germs - even antibiotic-resistant ones - and it's relatively high degree of safety, one might wonder why Silver isn't routinely used by every doctor and hospital in the world today.
Aside from the seemingly cynical (but all too true) reason that the medical-industrial complex would lose revenue (sickness pays, well-ness doesn't, and a single pill of a modern 'high-tech' antibiotic typically sells for $10-20), there is a more legitimate cosmetic reason for caution in Silver use: the phenomenon known as argyria. When sufficiently large quantities of Silver accumulate in the body, some of it accumulates just beneath the surface of the skin, which may lead to a permanent bluish-grey tinge to the skin.
As Hill and Pillsbury (both M.D.s) note in their massively researched (601 references) 1939 book Argyria, "A striking feature of argyria is the absence of any evidence that the deposits of silver produce any significant physiologic disturbance of the involved organs or tissue.... Aside from the [Silver] pigment deposit, the gross and microscopic appearance of the involved tissues is normal. Argyria is, therefore, of significance only from the standpoint of cosmetic appearance." (7).
In their chapter on Silver in the 1986 Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals, Fowler and Nordberg also remark that "argyria... is bluish-grey discoloration of the skin.... Although not esthetic, this condition is considered harmless.... a total dose of 1-8 g Silver would be required to induce the condition in a long-term inhalation exposure situation. The dosage required to induce argyria by ingestion seems to be somewhat higher, i.e. between 1 and 30 g of soluble silver salts...."(29).
Hill and Pillsbury could only find 239 reported cases of argyria by 1939, in spite of silver's widespread medical and over-the-counter use in America and Europe during the previous 40 years. Only 16 cases occurred from less than one year's chronic use of Silver; about half occurred with 3 years or less of chronic Silver use; and about half of all cases involved chronic Silver use ranging from 3 to 25 years. Where the published information (214 cases) provided data on the Silver compound used, 55% (118) of the argyria cases were caused by Silver nitrate; 13% (28) were caused by Argyrol, a mild Silver protein; 9% (19) were caused by Silver arsphenamine; 6% (13) were caused by Collargol, a chemically produced colloidal Silver, and various other products caused the remainder of reported argyria cases (7). In their summary Hill and Pillsbury report that a safe (with respect to argyria) total dose of the intravenous drug Silver arsphenamine would be 6 grams (.9 grams Silver ), while with Silver nitrate "the danger of argyria is very slight if the total amount ingested by mouth is below six grams [3.8 grams Silver]."(7).
To put this in perspective: if one assumes that electro-colloidal Silver and mild Silver protein are equally prone to cause argyria compared to Silver nitrate (and they probably are actually less prone to promote argyria), then it would take 11.5 years of daily oral use of two tablespoons of 30 PPM Silver to reach the 3.8 gram Silver threshold. Thus the risk of developing argyria from occasional use of Silver to treat specific infectious conditions must be considered virtually non-existent. I have used colloidal Silver intermittently since 1994, sometimes taking 2-3 tablespoons of 30 PPM Silver daily for months at a time, consuming about 250 mg Silver total, and I do not exhibit the slightest of argyria.
USES AND DOSES
Silver may be dropped into the ear several times daily for ear infections. Silver may be snorted into the nostrils from a nasal squirt-bottle for sinus infections or to abort head-colds. A dilute Silver solution (5-10PPM) may be dropped into the eyes to treat conjunctivitis or to soothe inflamed, itchy eyes (there may be a brief initial mild stinging sensation). Silver may be swabbed or rubbed (possibly mixed with aloe-vera gel, ideally fresh-squeezed from an aloe plant) onto minor burns, cuts, scrapes, wounds, etc. to prompt healing and prevent heal/infection. Silver may be massaged into gums several times daily for dental infections.
Silver is also useful to treat animal (farm or pet) infections as well, although dose should be scaled down or up (compared to human weight/dose) depending on the weight of the animal.
Silver has also been used as a water purifier since 1900 or so; since the 1930's Silver has been used to impregnate water filters to kill germs in the water or which might grow in the filter medium (11,12,21). The consensus of water treatment experts is that as little as 0.05 to 0.5 PPM is sufficient to kill most bacteria within several hours (11,12,21). Protozoal parasites (Giardia, Entamoeba, Paramecia, etc.) may require higher levels - e.g. 5-30 PPM (22). To germicidally purify water of doubtful quality, add 1 to 3 teaspoons of 10-50 PPM Silver to a pint of water; stir thoroughly and let stand for several hours. This is only a general guideline - when in doubt increase the Silver dosage as you see fit.
To conclude this report on a personal note: I have found Silver to indeed be a 'master germicide.' I have personally aborted colds with liquid Silver (I have just done it again while writing this report); I have had great success controlling candida with Silver. I routinely use liquid Silver or Silver gel for cuts, burns, etc. and have found it to be almost immediately soothing, as well as anti-infective/pro-healing. My wife routinely squirts Silver into her nose when flying to avoid catching cold from the plane's germ-laden recycled air.
The most amazing case of Silver use which I've had personal knowledge involved an 83 year old woman who was suffering severe septicemia (infectious blood poisoning). Her doctors were unable to control the raging infection and had sent her home, expecting her death in 48-72 hours. Her husband contacted an intermediary, through whom I recommended trying Silver . The woman was immediately put on one tablespoon of 5PPM colloidal Silver three times daily. Within 24 hours her septicemia began to disappear, and within 48 hours her septicemic crisis was over, and she did not die as 'expected.'
TECHNICAL NOTE
Most Silver preparations express their Silver content in parts-per-million (PPM). 1 PPM = 1 microgram (mcg) Silver per cc = 5 mcg Silver per teaspoon = 15 mcg Silver per tablespoon. 30 PPM = 30 mcg Silver per cc = 150 mcg Silver per teaspoon = 450 mcg per tablespoon, etc.
REFERENCES:
1) H. Bechhold, Colloids in Biology and Medicine, N.Y.: D. van Nostrand, 1919, pp. 364-76.
2) N.R. Thompson, Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, Vol. 5, ch.28, Elmsford, N.Y.: Pergamon Press, 1973.
3) B. Duhamel (1912) "Electric Metal Colloids and Their Therapeutical Applications" Lancet, Jan. 13.
4) A. Searle, The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease, London: Constable & Co., 1920, pp67-111.
5) A. Legge Roe (1915) "Collosol Argentum and its Opthalmis Uses" Br. Med. J., Jan.16, 104.
6) G. van Amber Brown (1916) "Colloidal Silver in Sepsis" Am. J. Obstetrics, Jan-June, 136-141.
7) W. Hill & D. Pillsbury, Argyria - The Pharmacology of Silver, Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1939.
8) S. Begley (1994) "The End of Antibiotics" Newsweek, Mar. 28, 46-51.
9) J. Fisher, The Plague Makers, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
10) D. Long & S. Spencer Jones, Bioterrorism: Secrets for Surviving the Coming Terrorist Germ Warfare Attacks on U.S. Cities, Barstow, CA: Life & Health Research Group, 1998.
11) N. Grier (1983) "Silver and Its Compounds" in Disinfection, Sterilization and Preservation, S. Block, ed., Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 380-428.
12) I. Romans (1954) "Silver Compounds" & "Oligodynamic Metals" in Antiseptics, Disinfectants, Fungicides and Chemical and Physical Sterilization, G. Reddish, ed., Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 380-428.
13) J. Powell (1978) "Our Mightiest Germ Fighter" Sci. Digest, Mar., 57-60.
14) H. Carr et al (1973) "Silver Sulfadiazine: In Vitro Antibacterial Activity" Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 4, 585-87.
15) T.-W. Chang & L. Weinstein (1975) "Prevention of Herpes Keratoconjunctivitis in Rabbits by Silver Sulfadiazine" 8, 677-78.
16) T.-W. Chang & L. Weinstein (1975) "Inactivation of treponema Pallidum by Silver Sulfadiazine" 7, 538-39.
17) M. Wysor (1975) "Orally-Administered Silver Sulfadiazine: Chemotherapy and Toxicology in CF-1 Mice...." Chemother 21, 302-10.
18) T. Wlodkowski & H. Rosenkranz (1973) "Antifungal Activity of Silver Sulfadiazine" Lancet, Sep. 29, 739-40.
19) T. Berger et al (1976) "Electrically Generated Silver Ions: Quantitative Effects on Bacterial and Mammalian Cells" Antimicrob Agents Chemother 9, 357-58.
20) T. Berger et al (1976) "Antifungal Properties of Electrically Generated Silver Ions" Antimicrob Agents Chemother 10, 856-60.
21) R. Thurman & C. Gerba (1989) "The Molecular Mechanisms of Copper and Silver Ion Disinfection of Bacteria and Viruses" CRC Crit Rev Envir Control 18, 295-315.
22) W. Newton & M. Jones (1949) "Effectiveness of Silver Ions Against Cysts of Endamoeba Histolytica" 41, 1027-34.
23) N. Simonetti et al (1992) "Electrochemical Ag+ for Preservative Use" Appl Environ Microbiol 58, 3834-36.
24) S. Hussain et al (1992) "Cystein Protects Na, K-ATPase and isolated Human Lymphocytes from Silver Toxicity" Biochem Biophys Res Comm 189, 1444-49.
25) H. Freundlich, Colloid & Capillary Chemistry, N.Y.: E.P. Dutton, 1922, p.385.
26) C.E. MacLeod (1912) "Electric Metallic Colloids and Their Therapeutical Applications" Lancet, Feb. 3.
27) A. Clark (1923) "The Properties of Certain 'Colloidal' Preparations of Metals" Br Med J, Feb. 17, 273-77.
28) T. Sanderson-Wells (1916) "A Case of Puerperal Septicemia... Treated with... Collosol Argentum" Lancet, Feb. 16, p.258.
29) B. Fowler & G. Nordberg (1986) 'Silver'' in Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals, L. Friberg, G. Nordberg & V. Vouk, eds. Amsterdam: Elsevier Sci. Pub., Vol. 2, 521-31.
30) J. Dawson et al (1984) "The Effectiveness of N-acetylcysteine...." Arch Toxicol 55, 11-15.
31) L. Borgstrom et al (1986) "Pharmacokinetics of N-acetylcysteine in Man" Eur J Clin Pharmacol 31, 217-22.
32) A. Lorber et al (1973) "Clinical Application for Heavy Metal-Complexing Potential of N-acetylcysteine" J Clin Pharmacol 13, 332-36.
___________________________________________________________________
From Silver Aid Colloidal Silver "A natural alternative to antibiotics."
By Martha M. Christy
Bacteria & Molds
Medical researchers Drs. Raulin(1869), Von Behring(1890) and von Nageli(1893) studied the germicidal effects of small quantities of silver and silver nitrate on microbial life such as bacteria and molds. There studies showed that silver exerted often dramatic "killing power" over disease micro organisms.
Wounds and Skin Disease
In 1897 Dr. Benno C Crede developed an antiseptic silver powder(silver citrate), and silver based ointment(colloidal silver in an ointment base) both of which were used in the treatment of wounds and skin diseases. It is reported that Crede received his inspiration for the creation and use of these silver compounds from the existing use of silver foil as an anti infection wound dressing at Johns Hopkins University.
Water Purification
In 1928, G.A. Krause introduced the principal of using silver as a coating in filtration systems in order to sterilize water for domestic use.
((***Personal Note*** Looking through a mountaineering catalogue last night I saw an add for Katadine water filters. The ceramic filters are impregnated with silver so no bacterial infestations occur between uses seeing that the personal filter can filter up to 50,000 litres))
Germicidal Effects
In 1929, another researcher, Schweizer, confirmed Krause's findings, reporting that all pathogens, including E. coli were killed when water was treated with electrically charged silver particles. Schweizer also determined that this silver treatment did not damage or eliminate beneficial micro organisms.
In 1937 a researcher by the name of Mallman showed that silver ions kill E> coli in treated swimming pools without harming microbial life beneficial to humans.
Burns
1938 Dr. Charels Fox of Columbia University develops silver sulfadiazine, a silver compound which was used for decades in the majority of burn centers in the U.S.(this compound is also routinely used for topical treatments of herpes simplex and fever blisters.
Infections
1953 Greenburg researches the use of silver nitrate to prevent common types of eye infections in newborns.
1957 A silver solution known as "Argyrol" is used as an antiseptic for treatment of local infections.
CANCER
1992 Dr. Robert Brooks, Professor of GeoChemistry, Massey University, New Zealand reports that researchers studying the effects of metals on cancer cells found that silver compounds were "potentially cytotoxic to B16 melanoma in-vitro and showed good activity against...leukemia in mice. Silver complexes... were also active against reticulum cell sarcoma." )Noble Metals and Biological Systems, CRC Press, 1992
M. Christy says in the next paragraph that the samples above are only a few of hundreds of studies conducted into the health benefits of silver, but that with the introduction of synthetic anti-biotics research has declined.
In her book she lists documented cases where doctors used colloidal silver to do such things as save a gangrenous leg when there was no other choice but to amputate it.
Her book is for sale readily and well put together. ISBN # 1-893623-02-5 Before 1938 colloidal silver proved to be useful in treating over 650 different infectious conditions. Today's advanced technologies being us colloidal silver that works even better. "Silver is the best all around germ fighter we have" says pioneering researcher Dr. Harry Margraf of St Louis. Jim Powell reported in "Our mightiest germ fighter" (Science digest March 1978) "Thanks to modern research, silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine" More recently, Dr. Richard Davies stated, " We're just beginning to see to what extent silver can relieve suffering and save lives"
"What we have actually done was rediscover the fact that silver killed bacteria, which has been known for centuries. When antibiotics were discovered, clinical uses for silver as an antibiotic were discarded". Dr. Robert O. Becker MD, researcher.
Recommended reading:
*Andrews, K., Chemistry's Miraculous Colloids: Quoting Dr. Fredreck Macy, Readers Digest March 1936
*Herschberg, Leonard More News in Silver, Johns Hopkins Hospital.
*Leomonick M.D., The killers all around Time, September 12, 1994
*Searle A.B. The uses of colloids in health and disease, The British Medical Journal page 70, 83, 86 Nov 1913.
*Simonetti, N. Simonetti, G. Electromechanical Ag+ for preservative use, Microbiology. Washingon. V58 12 pp3834-3836, 1992
*Brentano L., Margraf H. Antibacterial Efficacy of a colloidal silver Complex, Sergical Forum, V17, pp 76 - 78 1966
*Thurman, R.B. and Gerba, C.P., The Molecular mechanics of copper and silver ion Disinfection of bacteria and Viruses, a paper presented in the first international conference on gold and silver in medicine, The Silver Institute Wash. V18,4 pp 295-302 1989
*Antibiotics, The end of Miracle drugs? Newsweek, March 28, 1994.
_________________________________________________________________________
********* DISCLAIMER **********
The following information describes how we make CS for our personal use. It is intended for informational purposes only. Although my family and I have been using colloidal silver extensively since 1999 and are absolutely convinced that it is 100% safe and miraculously effective, we accept no responsibility for the outcome of the product that you make if you decide to use this information. We have no control over the materials and methods that you may use to make colloidal silver and any risk involved is your own.
Remember that CS is available through commercial sources also but it is VERY expensive!
MAKE YOUR OWN COLLOIDAL SILVER
Always use .999 pure silver, DO NOT USE STERLING SILVER! .9999 pure is also available but it is expensive and unnecessary. We use a silver ribbon called "bezel" that is 1/8 to 3/16" wide and about .020-.026" thick.
Choose the size of glass container that you would like to make your CS in. Heat that amount of distilled water to boiling. DO NOT USE A METAL CONTAINER TO HEAT THE WATER! Fill glass container to about 1/2" from the top with the heated water. The reason for this is because distilled water, not having any minerals in it, is a poor conductor of electricity. After being heated to near boiling, it will allow for the electrolysis to take place. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER TYPE OF WATER! Now make a hook on one end of each strip of silver (like a candy cane) and hang them on the edge of the jar and into the water, about an inch or so apart. Clip the two wires from the generator to the silver strips making sure that the clips do not touch the water or each other and that the strips of silver do not touch each other! You can tell when the process has begun, you can see what looks like smoke coming off of one the strips. If it doesn't appear to be doing anything in a minute or so, scoot the wires a little closer together. If that still doesn't work, sprinkle a few grains of table salt right in between the strips and it will take right off.
Use very little salt (a small pinch is plenty!) or you will wind up making silver chlorides and this is something we don't want . There is some controversy as to whether or not one should use sea salt or table salt. We feel that there are too many minerals and other things in sea salt and would rather use plain, white, iodized table salt. You can do some research on your own and find out more. We have been using the table salt method now for 15 years with wonderful results.
If you're making a pint, 15 minutes or so usually does it depending on the strength of your batteries. For a quart, 25 minutes is generally adequate when your batteries are new. If it takes longer than 40 minutes, change your batteries. A gallon will take about 1 hour with good batteries. It will take a little experimenting to get it perfect. Ideally, the water will turn about the color of beer or a tad darker when it's right. This should give you +/- 7 to 10 ppm of silver. If it is a grey color, it's still OK as long as you have used all the right ingredients and followed these directions to the letter.
Sometimes you won't see the right color until it has set for awhile after making. If you forget about it and it turns a dark brown, it's probably best to pour it out and start over although we have taken some that had turned dark and cut it with distilled water until the right color was obtained and it was fine. Colloidal silver made out of distilled water is safe to take internally and, according to the reports that will accompany these instructions, is also injectable. We have injected some of our animals with it with positive results and I have injected it intra-muscularly in myself a number of times. You can make CS out of tap water for topical uses ONLY such as burns and scrapes but as cheap as distilled water is, there's no sense in it. I also strain it through a coffee filter when finished.
Make your colloidal silver in glass containers. Do not let metal of any kind come in contact with colloidal silver! Most say that the glass should be dark colored because light, even artificial light, will break it down and cause the silver particle to settle out. Don't store it in plastic containers unless it is dark colored and stamped "HDPE" somewhere on the bottle. That is a non-reactive plastic. A brown hydrogen peroxide bottle is perfect. Don't store it near motors, speakers, exhaust fans or other things that may create a magnetic field.
We take about 1 tablespoon a day for maintenance and 2-3 tablespoons, 2-3 times a day if we feel some cold or flu symptoms coming on. There is no known toxic dosage of colloidal silver if it made correctly! It is mild and we consider it safe enough that we have put in a newborn infant's eyes. We have cured pink eye many times in 24 hrs with colloidal silver.
ORDERING
I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I think it is one of the most wonderful things that God has put here for us to enjoy and it will be a lifesaver for those that know how to and WILL use it. If you have ANY questions about or if I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to call or write.
My family and I have used this for many things and we don't expect that we'll be seeing much more of our doctor except for such things as broken bones and surgeries.
We sell the entire kit, including documentation and instructions, generator w/batteries and enough silver for 8-12 months for $59.95 + $9.95 S&H.
We also have the silver strips if you can't find it or find that it is too expensive in your area.
The silver strips are $15.00 per pair + $5.00 S&H. We will not charge any shipping on extra silver in the same order if your order does not exceed 2 pounds.
Commercial generators can cost anywhere from $149 to as much as $750 + S&H.
If you want to order, we will accept Venmo, Zelle, checks, cashiers checks or money orders. We will wait for checks to clear before shipping.
Send to:
Southwest Freedom
c/o Cope Reynolds
650 N. Penrod Rd. #554
Show Low, AZ 85901
You can also call us at: (505)349-8753 (Message only. We'll try to return your call within 24 hours)
E-mail us at: contact@southwestshootingauthority.net or visit our blog at SWSAblog
Website: www.southwestshootingauthority.net
Hello Cope, thank you for posting your information here. I will be e-mailing your blog address to others very soon. From what I have been reading and hearing about this Ebola, silver is the Only Thing that is going to touch it! Human error and incompetent behavior by government officials are only adding to the spread of this thing. But not only Ebola but other infections as well. We will be better off staying away from the "vaccination line" and staying to our own ways for as long as we can. Be safe my friend.
ReplyDelete