Ernie,
Here is the content of an article I put together in
answer to my clients concerns about the CS safety
issue:
"The Final Word on Silver Toxicity
Quoting from Alexander G. Schauss, Ph.D.
"...you should be advised that we recently completed
an extensive review of the scientific literature on
the safety of silver, especially as it relates to its
one known potential side effect, namely, Argyria.
Argyia is an irreversible discoloration of the pigment
(skin) caused by excessive silver intake or chronic
exposure to silver by certain tissues. The amount of
silver required to develop Argyria is estimated [by
the EPA] to be 3.8 grams per day. By comparison
standard 10 ppm colloidal silver contains silver in
amounts equaling less than 1 milligram of silver
(1,000 micrograms = 1 milligram; 1,000 milligrams - 1
gram), which therefore represents an amount
approximately 1/500th to 1/1000th of the amount of
silver considered to be a risk in the development of
Argyria.
"Most cases of Argyria reported in the medical
literature over the last 100 years involved chronic
intravenous or intramuscular use of the silver
preparations, most often involving a silver drug
prescribed by physicians which in most cases contained
silver nitrate. Other cases of Argyria reported in the
medical literature involve application of silver
preparations used for many months or years in the
treatment of the eye or vagina for certain diseases.
We could not locate a single case of orally consumed
colloidal silver manufactured in the last 25 years
causing Argyria in our review of the literature. This
is probably due to the low levels of silver contained
in such preparations, since only very small amounts of
silver are needed for its antiseptic effect.
"Humans consume approximately 100 micrograms of silver
every day in the diet. Additional amounts within this
range would be considered safe by all reasonable
estimates, especially if the amount needed to develop
Argyria would be the equivalent of 380,000 micrograms
(or 3.8 grams) of silver a day.
"As for the efficacy of silver preparations, we found
considerable scientific evidence published over the
last 75 years that a number of silver compounds can be
effective germicidal (antiseptic) agents against
several hundred pathogenic organisms. However, silver
is not termed an antibiotic as some have claimed
because an antibiotic by definition is derived from a
living organism.
Sincerely,
Alexander G. Schauss, Ph.D.
Director, Life Sciences Division
John Hopkins University [End of quote]
Dr. Alexander Schauss, Ph.D.
Alexander G. Schauss, Ph.D., is the Director of the
Life Sciences Division of the American Institute for
Biosocial Research, Inc. in Tacoma, WA. He is a member
of the Government's Commission on Dietary Supplements.
He holds joint faculty positions as Associate
Professor of Research and Senior Director of Research
and Development at the Southwest College of
Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences, in Tempe,
AZ. And, as Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences
at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in
Portland, OR.
Dr. Schauss is an Emeritus Member of the New York
Academy of Sciences, former Chairman of the Food
Policy Council of the National Council for Public
Health Policy, Founding Member of the British Society
of Nutritional Medicine, Emeritus Executive Director
of the American Preventive Medical Association,
Emeritus Executive Director and current President of
Citizens for Health, and a member of the American
Public Health Association and the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
The only negative effect reported by CS users is a
phenomenon called the Herxheimer effect, named after
doctor Karl Herxheimer (who identified this
phenomenon). Sometimes, when a person starts off for
the first time ingesting a large amount of CS, the CS
is so efficient at killing pathogens in the body that
the body cannot adequately dispose of the dead
pathogens through the normal eliminative organs, and
it resorts to the secondary ones, the lungs, sinuses
and skin. Or the CS user may experience diarrhea, as
the body tries to flush itself out. In that case, one
merely needs to reduce or temporarily stop the CS
until the healing crisis is over, and then start
taking smaller amounts of CS. A new European Union
Drinking Water Standard in draft form has removed any
limitations on silver in drinking water following the
World Health Organizations Guidelines for Drinking
Water Quality which states, "It is unnecessary to
recommend any health-based guidelines for silver as it
is not hazardous to human health." According to the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Poison
Control Center, CS is considered harmless. Dr. Samuel
Etris, a senior consultant at the Silver Institute,
says there has never been any allergenic, toxic or
carcinogenic reactions to CS. The U.S. Governments
Center for Disease Control confirmed that fact in
1995.
The term Argyria describes the condition of a bluish
gray color of the skin, and Argyosis the bluing of the
eye white, resulting from the use of SILVER COMPOUNDS.
To better understand the misconception regarding
Argyria, I will quote from the book "The Micro Silver
Bullet by Dr. M. Paul Farber 1996 page XII (ISBN
1-887742-00-X) In reference to a "Journal of American
Medical Association" article, October 18 1995, volume
274 # 15, where cases of Argyria were cited to have
been caused by silver compounds (not colloidal silver,
but silver mixed with other metals), note:
"These Case history presentations represent biased and
unprofessional writing. The author's apparent
inability to understand the difference between a
silver nitrate, sulfide, or other silver compound
demonstrates their lack of understanding of basic
chemical properties. The matrix, substrate, and
particle size are all critical to the varied functions
and reactions with use of these products. That is why
there has not been a single case of Argyria from a
properly manufactured modern-day colloidal silver
product. [editors emphasis] The cases of Argyria
reported in the 1920's and 1930's resulted because the
technology of the day was unable to produce a pure
colloidal silver product with a small enough particle
size." Ref. (4-A)
The reported cases of Argyria usually involved very
high and frequent doses over extended periods of time
of silver salts/compounds such as silver sulfate,
silver nitrate, silver chloride, etc.
The Environmental Protection Agency's Poison Control
Center reports no toxicity listing for Colloidal
Silver; it is therefore considered harmless in any
concentration. However all of the silver salts are
identified as toxic, although the only adverse effect
noted is Argyria. Therefore the concern is with silver
salts not Colloidal Silver.
Dr John Hill D.C. in his book "Colloidal Silver, A
Literature Review" states this:
"Critics of colloidal silver sometimes state that it
has been known to cause organ damage, kidney damage,
pulmonary edema, atherosclerosis and death.
"These claims appear to be based on a research study
on dogs in which the dogs were deliberately killed by
extremely large lethal doses of silver. At the doses
given, any heavy metal and probably many essential
minerals like zinc, iron, copper, etc. would have
produced death in similar fashion."
And again "We know that dogs died from injections of a
type of protein-bound silver in dosages ranging from
500 mg to 1.9 grams of silver depending on the
frequency of administration. This was equivalent in
silver content to giving [per day] a 150 pound adult
between 150 litres and 570 litres of 10 ppm colloidal
silver, or between 75 and 285 liters of 20 ppm
colloidal silver or between 50 and 190 litres of 30
ppm colloidal silver. The 10 gram estimated lethal
dose for humans from Goodman and Gillman is equivalent
to 1000 liters of 10 ppm colloidal silver." In another
case an individual ingested an estimated 124 grams of
silver nitrate over a 9-year period. She developed
argyria and an assortment of neurological symptoms as
well... This report is often used by critics to
attribute neurological disorders to silver
consumption. They curiously fail to put in perspective
the gross difference between the quantities of silver
involved."
He also reports:
"The EPA publishes a reference dose (Rfd) for silver
which is an estimate of daily exposure to the entire
population that is unlikely to be associated with a
significant risk of adverse effects over a lifetime.
The current Rfd for oral silver exposure is 5
micrograms/kg/day with a critical dose estimated at 14
micrograms/kg/day... Based on this Rfd, a 150 pound
adult should not exceed 350 micrograms/day."
Argyria is caused by the same mechanism that is used
when developing photographs. It is the same thing. If
you start with a salt of silver, and expose it to
light, some of it will reduce to silver metal. Then if
you have a developer (caffeine is a good developer) in
an alkaline solution (blood is normally alkaline),
additional silver will plate out from the compound
onto the metallic particles, making them grow. That is
the photographic process, and that is how one gets
argyria.
Now, the process requires silver salts. There are no
substitutes. Colloidal silver contains no silver
salts. Basically silver salts are what are in
unexposed film. Silver colloid is what is in a
developed photograph. If you put a developed photo
into the sun what does it do. It fades, it doesn't
turn darker. That is because a developed photo has no
silver salts to add to the silver particles since it
is already nothing but reduced silver particles.
Thus colloidal silver cannot cause argyria.
Theoretically I guess one could take CS with
sufficient ppm and in sufficient quantity to cause
aggregation, but one would likely drown from too much
water first, as the amounts would be truly phenomenal.
In years of pouring over hardcopy of obscure medical
cases no one has yet found a single report of any
adverse reaction to very fine particles of very fine
silver floating in very pure water.
The following two letters to and from the FDA are most
informative:
October 14th, 1999
Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department Of Health and
Human Services
Public Health Service
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Dear Sirs/Madam,
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and in
regard your August 17th, 1999 ruling regarding
colloidal silver, could you please supply the
following documentation on which you based your
decision?
1. The number of deaths related to the consumption of
colloidal silver.
2. The number of allergic reactions to the consumption
of colloidal silver.
3. The number of harmful drug interactions from both
OTC and prescription drugs when combined with
colloidal silver.
4. The number of reported cases of Argyria from
colloidal silver made with the AC or DC electrical
process.
5. The number of cases of Argyria from colloidal
silver that did not contain protein stabilizers.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this
request.
Sincerely,
Brent Finnegan
The FDA response:
Public Health Service
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
Office of Training and Communication
Freedom of Information Staff HFD-205
5600 Fishers Lane 12 B 05
Rockville, Maryland 20857
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
November 3, 1999
In Response Refer to File: F99-22589
Brent Finnigan Takoma (sic), WA 98408
Dear Mr. Finnigan:
This is in response to your request of 10/14/99, in
which you requested adverse events associated with the
use of Colloidal Silver. Your request was received in
the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research on
10/25/99.
We have searched the records from FDA's Adverse Event
Reporting System (AERS) and have been unable to locate
any cases that would be responsive to your request.
Charges of $3.50 (Search $3.50, Review $0,
Reproduction $0, Computer time $0) will be included in
a monthly invoice. DO NOT SEND ANY PAYMENT UNTIL YOU
RECEIVE AN INVOICE.
If there are any problems with this response, please
notify us in writing of your specific problem(s).
Please reference the above file number.
Sincerely,
Hal Stepper
Freedom of Information Technician
Office of Training and Communications
Freedom of Information Staff, HFD-205
Concerning the rumours of renal failure or liver
damage from Colloidal Silver, I finally tracked down a
source.
The remarks therein to renal damage (not failure) is
part of an unreferenced quote supposedly from two
doctors named Man C. Fung, MD, and Michael Weintraub,
MD "....While silver deposits derive from dietary
(e.g., mushrooms, milk, and bran), environmental or
industrial exposure, the indiscriminate use of CSP's
[silver proteins] and other silver medicinals adds
unnecessary exposure and may result in argyria.
Although primarily a cosmetic concern, argyria is
irreversible and has no effective treatment. In
addition, neurological deficits and diffuse silver
deposition in visceral organs have been reported with
long-term use of oral silver products. Renal damage
and metal fume fever have been reported with high
silver exposures....."
There is no listing, however, of this article in the
JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
article title, or anything else - not even the year.
You will notice, in this quote, the references to
CSPs, silver medicinals, silver products none of
them pure Colloidal Silver. I have emphasized those
terms to draw your attention to them. The very
conservative estimate of 3.8 grams/day of silver
needed to be a danger of any kind is an amount
physiologically impossible for a human being to ingest
in 10-20 ppm Colloidal Silver. (Could you drink 9-18
gallons of water each day?)
In conclusion, although I and quite a few others -
doctors, scientists and various researchers - have
diligently searched all available medical records, and
as you saw previously in this article, even asked the
FDA, no one to date has discovered a single medical
report of anyone being hurt in any way from any amount
of electro-colloidal silver (silver particles
electrically disbursed in distilled or deionized
water). There are numerous reports of various
consequences from ingesting or topically applying very
large quantities of silver salts, silver compounds and
silver proteins. There are even cases of people
suffering from ingestion and exposure to huge amounts
(10-100+ grams) of silver, such as the Blue-blood
royalty who regularly ingested large amounts of
mechanically ground-up silver powder. But there is
more reason and evidence to be cautious of ingesting
virtually every vitamin or mineral our bodies require
than there is to be cautious of Colloidal Silver.
[End of article]
My comments:
I have heard of a number of negative reports from both
medical and Naturopathic doctors, yet none of them can
substantiate any of these reports. Silver salts and
compounds, yes. Colloidal silver, no.
I personally have drunk 12-16 oz/day each day for the
last six years. I am not blue, and I rarely get sick.
Terry Chamberlin
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