Dear Mike, This site would appear to be so full of inaccuracies as to boggle the mind. I append my comments throughout the message.
> -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Fuller [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, 15 November 2001 6:25 p.m. > To: Silver list > Subject: CS>William Briggs - help with inaccuracies > > > Hi all, > > I will be attending a talk to be given by William Briggs, > author of a book > on CS (don't know the title), to be held here in Perth on Nov > 26. I was > invited, separately, by a couple of different friends, both > of whom I have > talked to extensively about the virtues of CS. Because of this I did a > little net searching on William Briggs and found a site that > appears to be > closely associated with him, the "Compassion Response Network": > > http://www.nw.com.au/%7Ekeane/healing/02CSHealthSafety/00index2.htm > > What I found was quite a number of, in my opinion, > inaccuracies and half > truths. I may be doing Mr Briggs an injustice by assuming that the > statements are linked to him and, if that is not so, I > apologise totally. > If, however, these are really related to his ideas then I > would like to be > sure of my facts before my friends are exposed to his talk. > > Could those with a reasonable grasp of the following issues, > selected from > the various web pages on the site, please comment on them accordingly? > Also, anyone who has read his book may be able to discern if these are > similar concepts to those he has written. > > BTW, at one point Bill Briggs is described as "Australia's > leading authority > on colloidal silver". > > On colloids, ions and salts: > > "A Particulate Test, or Specific Ion Test. This test measures > only colloidal > (that is, ionic) silver, and can be expressed as ppm of > colloidal silver" True. A silver ion selective electrode (ISE) will register only the activity of silver ions (or sulphide ions). It does not measure concentration directly, but this can be inferred by the use of a calibration curve generated from the measurement of standards of known concentration. This is not a particulate test. > "Pure water itself does not conduct an electron flow, but > ions (colloidal > particles) and salts are good conductors for electron flow." > > I thought ions (Ag+) and colloidal particles were different. True colloidal particles do not conduct current in water, being clusters of uncharged atoms. Conduction in water depends upon free ions. As most Colloidal Silver contains a high percentage of ions the terminology has become somewhat blurred, however, when describing characteristics of colloidal silver in a (pseudo) scientific manner, one should be particular about the terminology. > > On what is formed when making CS: > > "with most products, show that about 80% of the silver > content is in silver > salts or compounds." Rubbish! Given that one starts with pure water, and other substances are not added, it can be readily demonstrated that greater than 90% is found as silver ions or particles. > "Silver sinters off from the anode, forming either positively > charged silver > colloid particles, or combining with any salts or compounds > in the water, > forming silver chloride, silver nitrate, silver iodide or > various other > silver compounds depending upon the salts and impurities > originally in the > water." This is true as far as it goes, however, distilled water of any merit does not contain more than the merest traces of any of these elements (nitrate, iodine, chloride) in the parts per billion range. > "Even most of the genuinely "electro-colloidal" solutions > contained about > 80% silver salts, and some of these were in such high > concentrations, or > using toxic salts such as silver nitrate, that regular taking > of them over > years could lead to severe silver toxaemia and perhaps even diagnosed > argyria." Rubbish! Show us the figures...from an independent laboratory...with traceable samples. This is just scare-mongering of the worst kind... > More on "positively charged" next, but is ionic silver > (the 80%) the > same as silver salts or compounds? No. > > On absorption (adsorption?) and associated charge: > > "Colloidal silver and silver salts however, because of their positive > charge, are repelled by the intestinal lining, which > therefore does not > admit such positively charged particles to be adsorbed into the blood > stream." Then of course we would never absorb sodium, potassium, zinc, copper, magnesium or any other mineral (being positively charged ions)...unless of course these are absorbed in the mouth and throat also by that negatively charged blood. > "But in the mouth and throat, the Ph balance is definitely > alkaline, and > under such situations, the positively charged silver colloid > is rapidly > adsorbed, that is, attracted and assimilated by the negatively charged > mineral elements in the blood." > > I was under the impression that, while the ions had a > positive valence, > the colloidal particles were negatively charged. Colloids are negatively charged in some situations because of the ions adsorbed upon their surface, but this will change polarity depending upon the pH and other factors. The colloid particle has no charge in and of itself. > On argyria and heavy metals: > > "The sad danger in commercial preparations for silver medications and > "colloidal" solutions, and also for home colloidal silver > preparations, is > that there are many not doing the rigorous checks during preparation > required to ensure safety and quality, and there seems to be > emerging a > group of people with substantial heavy metal (silver) > toxicity, as serious > in its own way as the recent concern about mercury toxicity." This is news to me. Perhaps there is some evidence? > "Some of these more extreme cases are developing acute > argyria, and the wave > of such cases is already apparent." Evidence? > "Thefact is, that pure colloidal silver never settles in the > body tissues, > because it is too small, and so never contributes to argyria." Ionic or particulate? If silver particles are large enough to settle in the tissue how do they get in, in the first place? Oh, of course, they penetrate the tissue and arterial walls of the mouth and throat, attracted by the negative blood compounds. > "Medical authorities differ on how much silver causes > argyria, and of course > different silver salts vary in their toxicity. Let us consider the > proposition that 1 gram of silver ingested over a year will > give rise to > argyria (medical authorities differ, but 1/2 gram to 1 gram > of silver is > often regarded as sufficient, when taken over a year, to > cause argyria). > ---- > Let us then calculate how much silver we would ingest taking 5mls (a > teaspoon) a day of a preparation containing 4 ppm of silver salts. > ---- > Now taking 5 mls of solution a day for 365 days = 1825 mls or > 1.825/250 = > 0.73% of the quantity (1 gram) required to cause argyria. Or > 1.46% of 1/2 a > gram over a year." These numbers are correct, and show that one could ingest 100 times the amount of silver salts described and only approach the worst case scenario for argyria. It is thought that the range of ingestion of soluble silver salts for the development of argyria is between 1 - 30 grams. Worst case is intravenous administration of an estimated total dose of 4-20 g silver arsphemamine over a 2- to 9.75-year period caused argyria in humans. Argyria developed after a total dose of 4-8 g in some patients, while in others argyria did not develop until after a total dose of 10-20 g (Gaul and Straud, 1935). Oral ingestion is thought be the i.v. dose divided by 0.04, the assumed oral retention factor. > "But even silver accumulation in the body of a lesser degree > than that which > leads to medical diagnosis of argyria is serious, as it > congests the body > with a heavy metal, inhibiting proper body functioning. We > may compare the > situation of silver toxaemia with that of mercury toxaemia > produced by the > widespread dental use of amalgam fillings that include > mercury and silver." This is without foundation, there is no recording of toxaemia even in patients showing localised argyria, the liver enzymes showed no difference to those with no silver exposure. > "Even most of the genuinely "electro-colloidal" solutions > contained about > 80% silver salts, and some of these were in such high > concentrations, or > using toxic salts such as silver nitrate, that regular taking > of them over > years could lead to severe silver toxaemia and perhaps even diagnosed > argyria." The only reason why silver nitrate is toxic in large doses is because the nitrate is a tissue irritant. Silver chloride or silver oxide are no more toxic than silver metal. > "The result is that recently there have been a growing number > of argyria > cases coming to medical attention; now argyria is once again > a recognised > illness in our society." > > I didn't think silver was considered a heavy metal, and > where are the > "wave" of argyria cases? Indeed, one case that I know of reported in recent literature, the patient taking a mild silver protein of high concentration. > > On silver nitrate, light and silver solubility: > > "A few of selected samples of commercial colloidal silver > were very high in > silver nitrate, indicating that to prepare the solution, the silver > electrodes were immersed not into water, but into a nitrate solution." Why would you bother when you can buy silver nitrate at any laboratory supplies? > Silver nitrate is sensitive to the entire visible light > spectrum, whereas > colloidal silver is mainly sensitive (that is it loses its > positive charge > and precipitates out) to ultra violet light." Only poorly made CS exhibits this phenomenon. > Silver colloids are fat soluble, whereas silver compounds and > salts are > water soluble. Silver salts such as silver nitrate or silver > chloride will > precipitate out in fat cells, and in this way build up in the body." > > I'm not sure at all about the above statements. True silver colloids are not fat soluble any more than they are water soluble, ionic silver is water soluble but will not pass through a layer of oil (because they are charged). Silver nitrate is completely disassociated in water and will act as silver ions alone and nitrate ions alone. The fate of silver chloride and silver oxide depends upon the molecules it encounters in the body but is unlikely to involve the fat cells. Over 90% of all silver that enters the body no matter by which route or in which form is excreted within days. > > There are many more statements on the site that I would > question, but these > are enough for me now. > > I am not sure what the Briggs talk will be about, but I > suspect commercial > intent. I believe he is part of a group that intends going to > Africa and > injecting 50,000 AIDs sufferers with IV colloidal silver. > Although I may > question the transmission method, I do heartily applaud such > an undertaking. > > I hope I'm wrong about his link to this site, but if not I > suspect I may > have to ask a few pointed questions at his talk. If that is > the case, it > will probably make both of us quite uncomfortable. > > Regards, > > Mike Fuller Good luck! Ivan. -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
