What Exactly Is Colloidal Silver?

By: Marvin Robey
So, what is this "silver ion"? Well, it's really more commonly known as "colloidal silver". It is presently available in health food stores and by mail order suppliers. Simply put, it is extremely minute-sized silver particles suspended in water, with a positive electrical charge. The smaller the silver particles, the more effective it has been proven to be. The best colloidal silver is produced at the molecular level. A small D.C. current is passed through an electrolyte with silver electrodes. Minute, molecular sized particles are drawn off of the positive electrode, having a positive electrical charge. This electrical charge is of primary importance to healing and anti-bacterial qualities. The charge slowly dissipates, and therefore the freshness of the colloid is important. The electrolyte may be colloidal silver itself but is usually sea or table salt, although this produces some silver chloride which is an impurity to the colloid but not serious. Some producers use a protein or some other stabilizer to keep it in suspension, while others add a tea, food coloring, or other substance which hides the true quality of the colloid. However, if the quality is good these are not necessary and are usually a sign of poor quality.

Silver has been known to be a bactericide for at least 1200 years. Even in ancient times, it was known to prevent disease and it was said that disease could not be transmitted by drinking from a silver cup. Silver coins were commonly dropped into a jar to prevent the spoilage of milk and other drink, and silver containers were used to prolong the freshness of foods in general. Even today, we commonly call all tableware "silverware" although today it is more commonly stainless steel. Until almost 1970 it was common usage for scientists to put a silver dime in a petri dish to sterilize the dish. Silver was long used for plates for the surgical repair of bones.

In the 1920's, 30's and 40's, silver was ground very fine like flour, suspended in water and was used orally for many infections and disease conditions, topically on burns, and for fungal infections. Over 650 bacteria, virus, and fungi were considered treatable with this silver in 1938. With the development of the patented antibiotics, silver was forgotten in the United States and most other places, although the antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, not viruses, yeast, or fungi, as is silver. Now, with the greatly improved modern colloids, the tables are turning and silver may be the most effective treatment.

The 1994 issue of Newsweek featured a six page article, "Antibiotics, The end of Miracle Drugs?" as the cover story. "The rise of drug-resistant germs is unparalleled in recorded history," according to the article. "Penicillin and tetracycline lost their power over staph back in the 1950's and 60's. Another antibiotic, methicillin, provided a backup for a while, but methicillin-resistant staph is now common in hospitals and nursing homes worldwide...Trying to cripple bacteria's defenses...will not do much more than buy us five to ten years... A better strategy might be to abandon antibiotics altogether in favor of different kinds of drugs." Not a very pretty picture.

The September, 1995 issue of Time Magazine featured an article titled "Revenge of the Killer Microbes." Sounds like a science fiction thriller, doesn't it? But Time was serious. "Faced with AIDS, and with an ever increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, doctors were forced to admit that the medical profession was actually retreating in the battle against germs. The question ceased to be, 'When will infectious disease be wiped out?' and became 'Where will the next deadly new plague appear?'...Humanity once had the hubris to think it could control or even conquer all these microbes. But anyone who reads today's headlines knows how vain that hope turned out to be. New scourges are emerging -- AIDS is not the only one -- and older diseases like tuberculosis are rapidly evolving into forms that are resistant to antibiotics,...In 1992, 13,300 hospital patients died of infections that resisted every drug doctors tried."

The basic problem is simply that bacteria have a tremendous ability to adapt to substances. They can and do mutate to overcome antibiotics. When the antibiotics destroy the bacteria which are susceptible to them, they can clear the way for the resistant bacteria to move in uninhibited.

Still another problem that has plagued the medical profession from the beginning with modern antibiotics has been that beneficial bacteria and organisms play various important, natural functions in the body. Antibiotics often play havoc with some of these friendly organisms, producing long-lasting side effects that may be difficult to correct. Science Digest suggested an answer to all of these catastrophic problems back in March of 1978 in an article titled "Our Mightiest Germ Fighter." This article by Jim Powell stated: "Thanks to eye-opening research, silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine. An antibiotic kills perhaps a half-dozen different disease organisms, but silver kills some 650. Resistant strains fail to develop. Moreover, silver is virtually non-toxic."

One reason that the antibiotics have been so popular in the medical field is due to the fact that they can be patented. Therefore, the pharmaceutical companies find it financially worth while to keep the doctors educated in their medicines, while other products go unnoticed. Silver, on the other hand, is not patentable and there are no huge profits in it, so it is not worth heavy promotion. The high-priced products run over the low cost products, simply because they are more profitable.

All of this is happening at the same time that disease bacteria are developing immunity to modern antibiotics. Furthermore, the immunity to the antibiotics seems to be developing all over the world, even in isolated areas. The medical profession is alarmed. Can silver save us? Many authorities think so.

In "Use of Colloids in Health and Disease", author Dr. Henry Crooks says that colloidal silver is highly germicidal. In laboratory test he found that "all fungus, virus, bacterium, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and other pathogenic organisms are killed in three or four minutes. In fact, there is no microbe known that is not killed by colloidal silver in six minutes or less in a dilution as little as 5 parts per million. Dr. Crooks found colloidal silver particularly effective in intestinal problems, and tells us there are no serious effects whatsoever from high concentrations.

In "Colloidal Silver" by The Association for Colloidal Research, it is reported that: "Medical Journal Reports and documented studies spanning 100 years indicate no known side effects from oral or I.V. administration of properly manufactured Colloidal Silver in animal or human testing."..."There has never been a reported reaction with Colloidal Silver and any prescription medication..."

In Perceptions Magazine May/June 1996, Mark Metcalf states: "I made a 16-ounce solution of well over 250 PPM and drank it. I repeated this procedure four days in a row, daily ingesting at least the equivalent of a 5-ppm solution! I did not eat yogurt or acidophilus or compensate for friendly bacteria loss in any way. The only side effect was that I seemed to feel better!"

Some other researchers do tell us, however, that in prolonged, very heavy doses, some silver compounds will leave gray deposits in the heavier skin folds such as the knuckles. This condition is known as "Argyria." The only problem to these deposits is said to be the cosmetic appearance and the condition is said to be rare. Some experts say this condition has never been known to occur from silver in the colloidal state. Other experts do, however warn that this might be a possible problem to extremely high, prolonged dosages. The very small particle size in the colloidal silver would seem to make this possibility remote and this very small particle size is by far the most effective form of silver. Argyria is correctable with laser treatment, like a tattoo.
Furthermore, colloidal silver should not be used along with intravenous EDTA chelation, as silver is a metal and EDTA works by absorbing and removing metals from the blood. For this reason, the two work against each other.

The evidence appears to support the theory that colloidal silver is highly effective against all strains of pathogenic bacteria, while any one antibiotic is only effective against a few certain bacterial strains. Furthermore, antibiotics have never been effective against viruses, yeast, or fungi. Yet, researchers are telling us that colloidal silver has produced phenomenal results in tissue healing and reconstruction as well as reducing scar tissue in clinical tests. Severe cuts and wounds have healed in much less time."