Myths About Colloidal Silver
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Here are some of the more common myths about colloidal silver and how its made.

1) Silver kills 650 kinds of organisms
False:  While it has been shown to be effective against a wide variety of pathogens, there is no recorded documentation anywhere in the scientific literature proving or even suggesting that that number is 650.  This is just folklore and sales hype perpetuated by companies that are trying to sell product.


2) Pathogens cannot become resistant to silver.
False:  There are recorded instances of bacterial strains which are resistant to silver.  Some strains of Klebsiella pneumonia1, Salmonell, and  Ecoli2 are resistant, proving that organisms can and do become resistant.  The way to make pathogens resistant is to introduce them to low levels of a substance so that the weakest die off, and the strongest are selected to survive.  Eventually, the remaining pathogens are all the strongest and resistant.


3) Ionic silver cannot cause argyria because it is the smallest particle size and cannot "get stuck"
False:  Ionic silver can react with sulfur and selenium compounds in the body to produce non-soluble particles which are larger than ions and become immobile.  Scanning electron microscope studies of argyria victims show that the silver stuck in the skin is silver sulfide and silver selenide resulting from ionic silver.3

When ionic silver (silver oxide) is consumed, it undergoes a chemical reaction with stomach acid and turns into silver chloride.  Silver chloride is photosensitive... it can be used to make photographic film, and turns from white to black on exposure to light.  Silver chloride will react chemically with sulfur or selenium compounds in the body which becomes silver sulfide or silver selenides, which are both insoluble compounds.  Metallic silver (true colloidal silver) has very low reactivity with stomach acid, and thus does not create the compounds which are found in the skin of argyria victims.


4) Electric current pulls tiny pieces of silver from the electrodes to create colloidal silver.
False:  The electricity creates free silver ions on the surface of the positive electrode which chemically reacts with hydroxide ions in the water.  This creates silver hydroxide which dissolves in the water and floats away from the electrode.  The only compounds which can be made from silver and pure water without further chemistry or heat are silver hydroxide and its decomposition product of silver oxide. 


5) Both electrodes must be pure silver.
False:  The negative electrode can be any metal.  The negative electrode repels anything that could react chemically with it, and instead attracts silver from the positive electrode.  Only the positive electrode contributes any material to the solution.  This is the basic electroplating process.  (It is also why only the positive battery wire in a car corrodes.)


6) Silver strengthens the immune system.
False:  Antibiotics do not strengthen the immune system.  Silver does nothing except kill pathogens, and it does this without modifying any part of the immune system.


7) Silver is a nutritional supplement:
False:  The human body has zero requirement for silver, and taking small doses of silver as a supposed nutritional supplement only increases the chances of bacteria and virii becoming silver resistant.  The reason colloidal silver is sold commercially as a nutritional supplement is because that is the only way it can be sold without violating FDA regulations. IE: it is illegal to sell it as a treatment or cure for any disease.


8) Ionic Silver (Clear like water) is more effective than Metallic Silver (Yellow color)
False:  Recent tests by accredited labs show that metallic silver is often more effective. 
"Interestingly, AgNP's have been shown in a variety of cases to be more toxic to bacteria and fungi than free ions (Choi et al., Fabrega et al., 2008; Lok et al., 2006)"4

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1) Antimicrobial Agents And Chemotherapy, Jan. 1986, p. 165-167
2) FEMS Microbiology Reviews,  Volume 27, Issue 2-3, pages 341–353, June 2003
3) Silver in Healthcare: Its Antimicrobial Efficacy and Safety in Use  By Alan B. G. Lansdown
4) Advances in Applied Microbiology Vol. 77 By Allen I. Laskin, Geoffrey M. Gadd, Sima Sariaslani



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