It’s Shiny, But It’s Still a Scam
I got a question last week from reader Barbara about colloidal silver supplements. For the record, this alternative health remedy is both ineffective and unsafe. It’s the latter that concerns me most, of course. A lot of the things we do for health are ineffective (homeopathy for starters; glandulars are another). Others are actually dangerous (the fat-free diet trend of the 90s that’s contributed to our metabolic syndrome epidemic). Colloidal silver supplements fall into the dangerous category.
Colloidal – a term for suspension of micro particles in liquid – silver is purported to treat or cure everything from acne to leprosy to AIDS to cancer to, most commonly, infection. Colloidal silver is touted as an all-purpose anti-viral, anti-bacterial therapy. Of course, those diabolical scientists have suppressed the truth about colloidal silver’s benefits. It’s the “natural antibiotic”! Going further, evidently Americans are suffering from a massive silver deficiency epidemic.
In truth, colloidal silver supplementation has zero health benefits and carries substantial risks. For all the talk about widespread growing resistance to antibiotics (a public health concern I cautiously share), a run of antibiotics to treat an infection is far superior to colloidal silver both in terms of efficacy and safety. Of course, the goal here is to boost your immunity naturally through a good diet, prudent supplementation and regular exercise, but everyone gets sick now and then. Colloidal silver isn’t the answer. Regular intake will result in silver “ash” deposits that can and do show up in unfortunate places like the eyes, skin and organs – permanently. (This condition is called argyria. Click here to see a picture of a bad case – but be warned that it’s very disturbing.) Moreover, silver is not an essential nutrient required by the human body.
Further Reading:
Top 10 Health Scams (hoodia, cellulite cream and more)
Source:
Colloidal Silver Products Fact Sheet (NIH)
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Also…NASA uses nano silver in their water filtration systems. It just takes a bit of research.
Well, all you doubters, tut tut…
I had the Super Flesh Eating MSRI bug that no one could cure, I was being eaten alive from the inside out and had only hours to live.
While getting my last rights, the priest sprinkled some “holy water” over me, coincidentally he had accidentally put Colloidal Silver in by accident instead of holy water. Within minutes I was walking around and half an hour later I was down at the pub getting arse faced!
It works!!! Why don’t all doctors use it?
Will this thread NEVER DIE???!?!?!!
Nazis! Great Big Nazis with atom bombs who vote Republican! They use CS! Yes, Hitler used CS.
Now go crawl back into your yurts and await the second coming.
Silver is used on serious burns to reduce scarring. There’s no doubt in my mind that medical effects of silver are real; however, I can’t find a place for it in my own life because no-one has done serious research about internal dosages for specific uses.
The medico-scientific community has been negligent, and the enthusiasts and conspiracy nuts have taken up the slack. But this tells us nothing about silver itself.
For internal use it is probably the nano-particles (about 5% of ordinary CS; most of the silver in CS is ionic, not colloidal at all) that are antiviral etc. They may have higher risks too. The bast research is around the properties of silver nano-particles, not the ionic CS that’s everywhere these days.
In order to regain some measure of credibility, I seriously suggest you NOT assume that it’s safe to just print whatever the NIH or FDA puts out. The chance of it being propaganda is always very high and any serious health-advocate should know this. There’s plenty of other reading you can do to thoroughly rebut the unexamined claim you make in this article. And, by the way, the (one and only) example of a “blue man” that the media always points to is that SAME one old guy who was showcased on 60 minutes years ago and who was OBVIOUSLY painted. Why was he painted blue? Ask yourself why. First, because the blue man thing doesn’t actually happen with colloidal silver; and secondly, because the medical/health establishment SERIOUSLY doesn’t want the masses learning the hundred and one uses of colloidal silver that would stop them buying or needing the toxic and costly products proffered by the enormous corporate intereste. Please get a clue, write your retraction and don’t be one of Them.
Let’s say, for the sake of the argument, that colloidal silver has antibacterial properties and that it can can prevent a cut from getting infected. So what? You can buy a tube of antibacterial ointment for a couple of dollars.
Really, Mark, I like this blog, very valuble.
But, on this subject, ignorance. Just ignorance and superstition.
You should be ashamed.
thoughts from an infectious disease doctor over at Science Based Medicine:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/hi-ho-silver/
I drank about two liters of CS (20PPM in distilled water) a week for months to cure my discoid eczema. I also nebulised it. 5 minutes a day three times a week in a professional grade nebuliser. Not a doctor in the world could help me and I was told it was chronic so I would have to be on all sorts of rubbish to “control” the symptoms. I have not had so much a a sneeze in nearly 3 years. I have being through hell because of this condition and I’m now back so I think I’m more qualified to comment on if it works or not Mark!
So, drinking and nebulizing CS cured your discoid eczema? How many months did it take?
I have been making and using my own colloidal silver for the past 12 years. I have never in that time suffered from flu or any serious infections. The rubbish about CS being disseminated by the FDA and its cohorts about CS is just that-pure BS.
Their reasons are purely to protect Big Pharma.My wife, my friends, my dog, and my plants owe one hell of a lot to the properties of CS. I have not turned blue,grey, or purple. and am as healthy as I was when I was 30! I am 69 years old and will continue till I reach 100!CS is one of the best things I have ever “discovered” (Cape Town ZA)
do some proper research on CS. this article reads like you did your research from limited sources as a person who never even experimented with CS. It totally works for me and so many people have turned their health around because of it. it’s actually amazing stuff! it’s totally safe if you take the correct doses in the lower ppm. saying its a scam because some guy overdid it and turned blue? common sense
I wish that when argyria is mentioned people would tell the truth. It happens for one of two reasons (or both)
1) The water used is not pure it needs to be filtered by reverse osmosis or distilled.
2) The silver used is not 99.9% pure.
Both of these will create a solution that contains colloidal silver but also high levels of silver salts and it is the silver salts that cause argyria.
I have used CS on a persistent infection that courses of antibiotics only contained and it is gone. It is good internally and externally.
As for the use of colloidal gold, gold unlike silver is known to be toxic at certain levels as is copper which is also being sold as a colloid.
They used to put a silver coin In the milk jug to keep the milk from spoiling too fast.
Its been proven through sound scientific research that country’s who do not eat wheat have higher IQs
I hate seeing post like this guy made. He has no idea what he’s talking about yet puts forth ‘for the record…’. This is the type of misinformation that confuses people and frankly costs lives.
Colloidal Silver WORKS. It has worked for a hundred years.
Like ANY medicine it must be made correctly, stored correctly and consumed correctly. 100% of the ‘horror stories’ about colloidal silver violated one or more of these requirements.
I have an immune deficiency which renders me very susceptible to infection. From age 8 I battled pneumonia time and time again. At age 14 I had to have half of one lung removed due to infection that antibiotics of the day (early 60′s) couldn’t clear up. The lung damage was done.
I learned about colloidal silver some 15 years ago and even tried it for a very short time. But there was little information available and the story of the ‘Blue Man’ scared me off.
Over the years my lungs have become damaged due to repeated infections. I have battled Pseudomonas aeruginosa in my lungs, requiring antibiotics like Levaquin, Cipro, Doxycycline and Tobramycin. Taken 10 days at a time I’ve needed as many as 15 to 20 rounds of these antibiotics in a year, year after year. And they were becoming less and less effective.
Last year on 6/11/2012 I decided to try colloidal silver. I took two 6 cc doses daily (about 2 teaspoons) inhaled with my nebulizer. Within 3 days my lungs began to clear up. In less than a week the infection was gone. I don’t take it every day, but when I feel a flareup starting in my lungs I restart taking Colloidal Silver. If it doesn’t clear up within a couple of days I’ll start also drinking 1 ounce a day, never for more than a week.
Today, 6/13/2013 I just passed one year with ZERO antibiotics. I’ve used about 1 8oz. bottle of Colloidal Silver per month on average. And I’M NOT BLUE.
Yes, it works. Stop telling people it doesn’t. BTW, I don’t get any kickback for referrals but after my research I chose to buy my supply from Utopia Silver.
I left a message on here back in 2011. Just an update. I still make my own silver and I still take it only when needed. Add two more years to it. 4 years and running…ZERO sinus infections…and no allergy meds taken in over 1400 days. It’s wonderful being free of pharmaceuticals and the side effects and enjoying the outdoors no matter what time of year it is!!!!! Believe what you want. As some of said it’s psychosomatic…then I guess I’m one crazy allergy free sinus infection fee outdoor enjoying mofo!