Colloidal silver and pathogens

Hebrew University in Jerusalem demonstrates that the pathogens that are killed by the tiny silver particles begin to leach those particles into the rest of the colony, killing other nearby bacteria in an ongoing chain reaction that continues until the bacterial colony is wiped out. The researchers even nicknamed this process the “zombie effect.”
Colloidal silver is a completely natural, liquid mineral supplement found in almost every health food store in North America. It’s much like mineral water, except that in this case, the only minerals in the water are tiny, sub-microscopic particles of pure silver.

Pure silver, by itself, has been known for thousands of years to have powerful, broad-spectrum healing and infection-fighting qualities. So when the process for making colloidal silver was discovered in the late 1800’s, shortly after Edison harnessed electricity, it immediately became a popular natural infection-fighting agent, used both topically on cuts, burns and infections, and internally as a remedy for a wide variety of infectious diseases.

Numerous medical studies were conducted on colloidal silver throughout the early 1900’s, and the substance was used in hospitals and laboratories around the world, in a wide variety of forms, to help fight infection and disease. Studies documenting its phenomenal infection-fighting qualities were written up in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the British medical journal Lancet, and many others.

Indeed, as far back as 1919, Alfred Searle, author of The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease, had written: “Applying colloidal silver to human subjects has been done in a large number of cases with astonishingly successful results…it has the advantage of being rapidly fatal to parasites without toxic action on its host. It is quite stable. It protects rabbits from ten times the lethal dose of tetanus or diphtheria toxin.”

How Is It Made?
Colloidal silver is made through a simple electrical process that pulls microscopic particles of silver called silver ions from a larger piece of pure silver immersed in water. These tiny ionic silver particles are held in suspension in the water by the electrical charge on each atom. When ingested, these tiny ionic particles of silver travel throughout your body like any other ionic mineral before being excreted through your normal channels of elimination.

Over 100 Year Medical History

The simple process for producing colloidal silver was developed shortly after Edison harnessed electricity in 1892. It was then used for decades by doctors, in a variety of forms and under a variety of brand names, as a natural infection-fighting agent. But it fell out of widespread usage after the advent of prescription antibiotics in the 1940’s.

Then, in the mid-1970’s colloidal silver experienced a dramatic resurgence in popularity after doctors discovered that many pathogens were developing immunity to prescription antibiotic drugs, but not to electrically-charged ionic silver. According to science writer Jim Powell in the March 1978 issue of Science Digest, “Thanks to eye-opening research, silver is re-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.”

In the 1980’s Dr. Robert O. Becker, MD, the noted bio-medical researcher from Syracuse Medical University, and author of the best-selling books The Body Electric and Cross Currents, discovered a distinct correlation between low silver levels in the body, and sickness. He wrote that silver deficiency is often responsible for the improper functioning of the immune system. Indeed, he stated:

“While analyzing hair samples and questioning the parties involved, I noticed the correlation between low silver levels and sickness. People who showed low silver levels in their hair analysis were frequently sick. They seemed to have innumerable colds, flu, fevers, and various other sickness. I believe that a silver deficiency may be the key to the improper function of the immune system.”

Regarding the profound ability of silver to control infection, Dr. Becker wrote, “All of the organisms that we tested were sensitive to the electrically generated silver ion, including some that were resistant to all known antibiotics.” Regarding the safety of silver, he wrote, “In no case were any undesirable side effects of the silver treatment apparent.”

In short, Dr. Becker had simply re-discovered what had already been known for thousands of years, i.e., that silver is one of the most powerful natural infection-fighting agents on the face of the earth.

Controversy
As the use of electrically generated colloidal silver grew during the 1970’s, ’80’s and ’90’s, the major pharmaceutical firms began to view it as a distinct threat to their sales of prescription antibiotic drugs, and began exerting behind-the-scenes pressure on the FDA to ban it. So in 1996 the FDA published their intentions in the Federal Register to ban colloidal silver. This evoked a firestorm of protest from natural health enthusiasts.

After a three-year investigation during which the FDA could find no grounds to issue an outright sales ban, they published their “Final Ruling.” It stated that, like all nutritional supplements, colloidal silver could continue to be sold over-the-counter, as long as no claims were made for it in terms of healing illness or disease.

If such claims were made, the claimant would have to show that he had successfully completed the FDA’s stringent testing procedures for over-the-counter drugs, and had submitted the appropriate applications to sell the substance as an over-the-counter drug.

In short, the well-known infection-fighting properties of pure silver could no longer be listed on the label or mentioned in the advertising of colloidal silver products — unless millions of dollars worth of FDA-approved testing was undertaken. In the meantime, colloidal silver could only be sold as a nutritional supplement, and no health claims whatsoever could be made.

Many observers believe the FDA simply acted at the behest of the big drug companies to prevent the public from knowing about the dramatic infection-fighting properties of colloidal silver. And while Big Pharma may well have been behind the whole fiasco, in reality, the FDA simply reiterated for colloidal silver what was already true for all nutritional supplements: they cannot be sold as “medicine” that provides a “cure” or “treatment” for a specific illness. All they can be sold as is “food supplements,” i.e., nutrients that supplement or augment your daily food intake.

However, as news of the FDA’s Final Ruling became more widely known, outrage among natural health enthusiasts grew. The perception that the FDA was acting at the behest of the major pharmaceutical firms to restrict colloidal silver usage, or to restrict information about colloidal silver usage, dramatically increased public curiosity about the substance. And the popularity of colloidal silver quickly soared.

Industry insiders estimate there are now as many as 10 million regular colloidal silver users throughout the U.S. and Canada, and tens of millions more throughout Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. Colloidal silver has also become one of the most popular natural substances used by missionaries and charitable organizations in Third World countries, where it is openly used to help control infections among the native poor who cannot afford expensive prescription antibiotic drugs.

How Does Colloidal Silver Work?
Researchers have found that colloidal silver works against pathogens in three powerful ways:

First, much like the mineral iron, silver is a powerful carrier of oxygen. But unlike iron, when silver comes into contact with an infectious microbe it releases an oxygen “burst” which damages the cell wall of the pathogen in much the same manner as hydrogen peroxide would.
Second, silver acts as a catalyst, disabling the enzyme that single-celled bacteria, fungi and viruses use for respiration and metabolism. And it does so without harming surrounding human cells or tissues.
Third, brand new research demonstrates that when tiny silver particles are absorbed through the damaged cell wall of the pathogen, these silver particles attach themselves to the DNA of the pathogen and thus prevent it from replicating. No replication means the infection can no longer spread.

Ultimately, and in very short course, the silver kills the pathogens completely. And additional brand new research out of Hebrew University in Jerusalem demonstrates that the pathogens that are killed by the tiny silver particles begin to leach those particles into the rest of the colony, killing other nearby bacteria in an ongoing chain reaction that continues until the bacterial colony is wiped out. The researchers even nicknamed this process the “zombie effect.”

What Has Colloidal Silver Been Used On, Historically?
Here is a very short list of disease conditions against which colloidal silver has historically been used, according to historical medical texts:

Acne
Allergies
Appendicitis
Arthritis
Bubonic plague
Burns
Cancer
Candida yeast
Cholera
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Colds
Flu
Pneumonia
Pink Eye
Sties and other eye infections
Diabetes
Gonorrhea
Hay fever
Herpes
Leprosy
Leukemia
Lupus
Lymphangitis
Lyme disease
Malaria
Meningitis
Rheumatism
Ringworm
Scarlet Fever
Ear Infections
Tooth and Gum Infections
Sore throat
Strep throat
Shingles
Skin cancer
Staph infections (including MRSA)
Syphilis
Toxemia
Trench foot
Certain viruses, viral warts and stomach ulcers