As for colloidal silver, you can't say you weren't warned

With cold and flu season arriving a bit earlier than usual this year, consumers may be tempted to try colloidal silver. They even may be tempted to try it in large doses. Here's some advice: Don't.

The substance is currently pitched as a flu fighter, among other things. Harumph. Not only is there no proof colloidal silver works in such a fashion, it's not the harmless tonic some would have you think.

We've said this before, of course, but Paul Karason drives the point home better than we ever could. The man turned blue (seriously) after taking large quantities of the substance, simply water laden with silver particles.

Here's the Today/MSNBC story (with photos -- worth seeing).

As for the "I told you so's":

In May: Scam 'cures' for swine flu face crackdown The FDA and FTC target peddlers of colloidal silver and other potentially harmful products. Tamiflu and Relenza are the only approved treatments.

In February: Does colloidal silver boost immunity or overall health? The metal is popular in alternative medicine circles, but claims are unproven and large doses can be harmful.

As that story notes: "Contrary to claims made by some websites, silver in large enough doses can cause side effects. In rare cases, it can collect under the skin and react with sunlight to create a permanent bluish tint, a condition known as argyria. Although unsightly, argyria is not dangerous."

And heck, in 2003: Be leery of the silver bullet

Here's more on colloidal silver products from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It notes that silver has been used medically for centuries, but that, you know, modern medicine has some advantages over it.

-- Tami Dennis

Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[fjasdfio]

This story is stupid.....ANYTHING is large doses IS HARMFUL period! Watch daytime tv commercials .....they are full of FDA whoopsie drug recall commercials and lawsuits......wake up people.

[Jeremy Jones]

If the FDA are cracking down on it then you can be pretty certain that it is an effective and safe alternative to the toxic, yet patentable and therefore highly profitable, drugs that the pharmaceutical companies are pumping into us.

Pharmaceutical drugs are one of the biggest killers on the western world, and yet they say colloidal silver is dangerous because it turned one man blue?

Besides, that man wasn't taking colloidal silver if my research is correct, he used another silver preparation, a true colloid is so small that it cannot get trapped in the body, it passes through every membrane and goes straight out again.

[D]

The FDA is here for your safety. Lawsuits exist because their is a paper trail of blame starting with the physician to the pharmacist. Crap bought from GNC leaves the consumer with no one to blame, so no lawsuits. There is no conspiracy. Alternative "medicines" don't go through trials nor do they list all known side effects. EVERYTHING has side effects. You can never be sure what you are getting with alternatives and many are contraidicated with the actually effective drugs you know damn well you're taking. Dangerous game.

[Ellen Rhudy]

I take Sovereign silver occasionally. It is the best on the market. The "blue man" took way too much, and it's my understanding he made it himself, a no-no. Silver's great for bacterial infections, however, I personally don't think it does much of anything for viral infections. Silver's been used for centuries, and until about 1960 was used to protect newborns' eyes from bacteria.

[Rebecca]

So let me get this straight. One man who uses silver nitrites, and not the other form of real silver, turns blue yet is healthy and not dead like the thousands of other americans on Big Pharma poisons, and the mainstream "snooze" attacks silver. If you'll ever look back at history, the wealthy dropped silver coins in there water and milk to keep it from spoiling, hence the term, " born with a silver spoon in their mouth". Big Pharma, the mass murderers that they are are running scared because they know the "real silver" which anyone who has a brain not clouded with prescription drugs knows where to purchase it. I have used real silver for years, and am not blue, and I never get colds, flu, or any other sickness. So, for the idiots who believes the mainstream media, just go ahead and take the flu vaccines, and wait and see what happens to you.

[bob prochazka]

I absolutely can understand why you have a job. With the near total corruption of values in business today, I think you fit right in. What is your actual experience with Colloidal Silver? I will bet you have none.
I have using this product for more that 15 years (all of which I have made myself at home) and have not turned one shade of blue or gray.
I have not had a cold or the flu in those years.
Everytime my wife or I have a stomach ache, possible contaminated food, feel like we may be coming down with something OR GO OUT INTO THE PUBLIC together, we take about a quarter cup of Colloidal Silver. I go shopping about two times a week but do not take it for those short trips. I may start if the new flu becomes very apparent.
The above may sound like a lot but it turns out that we do not take on average of once a week.
So much for your stupid warnings, reporting, your papers ethics for letting you report crap like this and the FDA.
That sounds like a lot but, since we are both approaching 80, it turns out that

[Chris oneils]

Funny how 10 News website are saying bad things about Colloidal Silver! all on the same day!

Eat Organic Fruit and Veg! Drink Green Tea every day!

[redplanet]

The FDA has manipulated and hijacked the critical thinking skills of an entire country.

Please, please do not take one media happy man who loves the publicity, and, by his own admission, still takes the silver and extrapolate that it is bad for you. I cannot tell you the number of problems CS has solved in my life.

My college age son returned this summer with a deep, barking, bronchial cough he said he had for a month. 2 days of CS and it was almost gone. 4 days and it was history.

It has stopped gum infections, it has helped a traveler's stomach...oh, the things it can do. Oh, and antibiotic resistant staph?

Reading List:
Renewed interest for silver. Burns 2000; 26(2): 131-8.;
Lansdown AB. Silver. I: Its antibacterial properties and mechanism of action. J Wound Care 2002; 11(4): 125-30.

[Richard Love]

Whoever wrote this is obviously ignorant about Argyrol, it's history, and how amazingly effective it is at killing off both viruses and bacteria.

Previously owned by Johnson & Johnson, Argyrol was the most widely prescribed disinfectant in US Medical history, and there is substantial documentation regarding is medical value, which could include stopping the transmission of nearly all STDs, including HIV.

Your branding the use of mild silver proteins as quackery is a blow to intelligent journalism, and offensive to those who know the truth.

[F]

Another attack on something that actually works. The FDA and its cronies on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies (which make money selling toxic drugs) and the medical "establishment" continue attacking our rights to use natural substances. Funny they claim silver is dangerous (despite a long history of safety when properly used) and that it's unproven (when it most certainly IS proven). As if Vioxx was "proven"!! The real problem is that silver works TOO well and its growing popularity threatens drug sales and the notion that anything other than so-called "miracles" of modern medicine (like controversial and dangerous vaccines) are ineffective and nothing more than "snake oil." This radical disinformation and medical "terrorism" delivered directly from our government "protectors" shows the real issue isn't health, but MONEY. When medicine shows it doesn't care to know about something that's actually healthful, the curtain again pulls back to reveal the Wizard at work. This type of story is a total red flag that should not be ignored, but instead should lead to calls supporting consumers' rights to health freedom. What's next?..."mandatory" vaccines? Give me a break.

[lochner]

I have been taking Sovereign Silver for years...at the first sign of a sore throat, swollen glands, allergies, cold. It is the best. I also take Low Dose Naltrexone to keep my immune system pumped up. Look into it. WWW.LDNINFO.ORG The Big Pharma Ho's just can't stand it.

[Michael Robinson]

Anyone who has done any true, in depth research into alternative treatments knows that this bashing of colloidal silver is a load of crap. I have used it to kill the strep a. that caused me illness upwards of 4 times a year. I have not had a strep infection in nearly 5 years because I killed it off at the place where it likes to go dormant; the heart. Say what you like or dislike about colloidal silver, but if you want to live, you'll use it for the SERIOUS illnesses instead of antibiotics that cause as much harm as questionable good.

[Michael Robinson]

Well folks, if you want to prevent illness PERIOD, you need to research and READ BOOKS instead of buying into the commercials that the pharmaceutical companies flood the airwaves with every 10 minutes. Here's one to start with: "Alkalize or Die" by Theodore A. Baroody. This book will possibly save your life and absolutely save your wallet.

[John]

From another blog comment at a different site:

"It should be noted that he was consuming excessive quantities in a highly concentrated dose - over 100ppl whereas the normal recommendation is only 10ppl.

He also consumed this over many years, and he was making it himself using a car-battery to ionize the silver particles.

As a result, the colloidal silver he had distilled had high level of protein molecules as a by-product of the distilling process he used, it is the protein which binds with the silver which causes argyria.

One should consider electrically ionized colloidal silver at 10ppl and taking a zinc supplement along with it, which prevents the build up of silver particles in the skin, thus preventing argyria.

It should be noted that argyria is incredibly rare."

[carrie]

let me see someone blue.

[carrie]

I agree Jeremy Jones | September 10, 2009 at 01:40 PM.

Show someone who turned blue.

[Tom]

I'd be willing to bet that all of the above comments come from the same IP address.

[Grant]

I have not taken a drug stronger than aspirin or an antibiotic in years and rarely get sick. I eat healthy and have used colloidal silver to great effect hundreds of times. If anyone wants to see how well it works, just spray a little on something that spoils quickly and leave it next to an untreated pice of the same thing. Or use a diluted silver nasal inhaler when you have a sinus infection and see how quickly it disappears.

How sad to see such blatant and pathetic evidence that our major news carriers are so obviously under the thumb of our pharmaceutical propaganda machine. Sad but so true.

[redplanet]

Tom: All of the above did not come from the same IP address. I know because I wrote only ONE of the pro silver posts.

BTW, I learned about silver from my father - a board certified M.D. (internal medicine), published in journals such as NEJM, taught at an Ivy Med school and chief of staff at their hospital.

He studied the history of medicine. He knew how and why it worked and why it still does. Not everyone who likes silver is a hick. I also went to an Ivy school undergrad and Stanford grad and in my statistics classes I learned how to deconstruct med research and find the statistical fraud by pharmcos.

Go research. It can be fun, enlightening, and maybe save your life. And that goes for L.A. Times also.

[Alhambran]

Funny how this is coinciding with the Big Swine Flu Scare (Hoax).

[Scott]

Wow! Such passion for colloidal silver!

If this stuff IS as effective as people say and since it's so easy to obtain, wouldn't it be wildly successful on it's own? There are no ads for FaceBook or marijuana but they've found plenty of fans. How is it simply the FDA "cracking down" on it to make more profits. (Anyway, that's a real stretch to think the FDA directly profits from putting an alternative medicine through tests or from warning the public about potential side effects. If you don't understand that, I'm wasting my breath.)

Silver was replaced by penicillin long before the modern FDA, this is hardly a profit thing, it's a safety issue. If ONE guy turns blue, and they do nothing then they're gonna get sued when a second or third person turns blue. If you want to blame "cracking down" on anything but reasonable safety precautions, you can blame it on a very litigious society.

[JewelD]

I've met one of these silverized blue people at Co-Opportunity in Santa Monica. I've actually seen him there twice. He was sort of an Anglo guy, with dreads, looked to be late 30's. The dull grey pall of his skin was really striking.

I guess the silver in your skin makes you a walking black-and-white photo.

People who defend colloidal silver basically do not know the facts. They quote biased articles, and ignore the actual studies conducted on CS, that show virtually no therapeutic help, other than placebo.

You can still buy it over-the-counter, but no CS manufacturer can make any therapeutic claims about it - because NO studies support it.

CS was only used 100 years ago because there was little else that peoplecould try at the time - we have come a long way since then, Western-medicine and otherwise.

If you don't like western medicine, or you lack insurance (usually the real problem) - I suggest washing your hands a lot and taking elderberry syrup. Elderberry is clinically proven to reduce viral loads, by preventing viruses form getting into cells and multiplying.

So when you go to the health food store, pass on the CS and pick up the Elderberry syrup, instead.

Oh and pick up some yogurt - that's been clinically proven to boost the immune system too.

Peace out.

[John]

I have used colloidal silver for about 7 years with absolutely no ill effects. I was a sickly kid and I'm 29 now. In my 20's I've gotten a handful of colds and strep twice. Each time, colloidal silver has helped me fight them off without antibiotics. As a kid, I was taking a new antibiotic every season. This is total big pharma owning the mainstream media. Even that photo of the silver hydrosol above is meant to mislead. Silver is a clear liquid like water and doesn't look like that poison above.

[Kevin]

Why not just title the post, "Hey, crazy people. Comment on this."

[JewelD]

@Michael Robinson re: "Alkalize or Die":

I agree - people need to be better informed. However, your own post leads me to believe you do not understand that you cannot "alkalize" your blood nor anything else in your body. The only thing you can alkalize or acidify is your urine. The body keeps itself within very strict pH balance - any basic course in phsysiology covers that.

PS: since water itself is pH neutral by definition, ersatz "alkalized" water is just plain water that has had alkalized ions *added* to it, like a cocktail. You might as well just add some baking soda to a glass of water, or drink some club soda. Moreover, the notion that alkaline water can cure a host of illnesses is *refuted* by evidence that it can cause health problems, because the body reacts by sending stomach acid production into overdrive.

A chemist explains it here: http://www.chem1.com/CQ/ionbunk.html