Reader comments
Lee Benson: Alpine firm's liquid silver making mark

I would advise anyone even thinking of using this product to do a google search on colloidal silver and read some of the pros and cons.

I have seen two patients that poisoned themselves with colloidal silver. One is dead. The other is deep blue-gray in color. Silver is a heavy metal with toxic properties similar to arsenic and mercury. Antibiotics that gain FDA approval as "drugs" have to meet safety standards in clinical trials. Colloidal silver is classified as "food" and is therefore not subject to stringent standards of safety nor to approval based on clinical trials. Lysol and other "antiseptics" have potent antimicrobial activity, too, but they are not safe to ingest.

Lee, you may have done a terrible disservice here, not to mention giving a huge free advertisement to a supplement company. Bad idea!

I sure hope this dosen't turn out to be another Utah County get rich quick scheme. this kind of sounds dangerous.

If you mix this stuf with Xango and Tahitian Noni it will cure everything from Hemroids to Heart Attacks.

That guy in comment 2 above has no clue. I have used it every day for 10 years with only positive results. He's flat telling lies if he claims colloidal silver killed someone. He can't prove colloidal silver killed anyone, and furthermore, pure, properly filtered colloidal silver will NOT cause argyria (blue-gray cosmetic coloring - not harmful). Only COMPOUNDS containing silver can do that. I challenge him to prove me wrong.

Lee,

I couldn't help but recollect stories of old west snake oil
hucksters. The article read like an advertisement for the product with no mention that the claims for colloidal silver products are highly controversial and without sound scientific research evidence. Granted, anecdotal stories abound as is the norm for many supplements and so called health products. Thanks to Orrin, Utah is now the capital of the world for companies selling snake oils and the promises they hold. We still live in the wild, wild west on this subject and it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon. How about a little balance, or is that no longer a desirable ideal of journalism?

On the other hand, maybe I am in the wrong business. I could get rich quick by inventing a supplement that preys on the fears, hopes and gullibility of humans all over the planet. But that shouldn't bother me, it's legal isn't it?

Do you realize that this company won the best in state medical innovation award for the products ability to treat Malaria and for work they are doing with the U.S. Military and other major labs? They have patients and peer review papers and a number of government approvals.

In studying for my doctorate, and having spent most of my life working in the nutritional supplement industry, I have done a lot of research on "colloidal silver" products. The first thing I learned was that not all silver products are equal. Most silver products on the market are made of an ionic or chemical version silver, which can, if taken in large amounts over a small period of time, build up in the body. However, silver in its metallic form IS NOT A HEAVY METAL and WILL NOT build up in the body. If anyone wants to disagree, all they need do is check their Merck Index and see that it's so. The products that this company puts out are unique to the industry because they utilize the metallic form of silver, and actually have the only new patents on a colloidal silver product that still contains only metallic silver and water since the original patents were issued in the early 1900's. Several of their products ARE APPROVED by the EPA and others are in the process of FDA approval. Just read some of the independent university and government lab studies on their products and see for yourself.

This is what I found on the web.
Argyria results from prolonged contact with or ingestion of silver salts. Argyria is characterized by gray to gray-black staining of the skin and mucous membranes produced by silver deposition. Silver may be deposited in the skin either from industrial exposure or as a result of medications containing silver salts.
The most common cause of argyria is mechanical impregnation of the skin by small silver particles in workers involved in silver mining, silver refining, silverware and metal alloy manufacturing, metallic films on glass and china, electroplating solutions, and photographic processing. Colloidal silver dietary supplements are marketed widely for cancer, AIDS, diabetes mellitus, and herpetic infections. Cases have followed the prolonged use of silver salts for the irrigation of urethral or nasal mucous membranes, in eye drops, wound dressing, and the excessive use of an oral smoking remedy containing silver acetate.
Argyria has also been attributed to surgical and dental procedures (eg, silver amalgam-tattooing, silver sutures used in abdominal surgery). Blue macules have appeared at sites of acupuncture needles and silver earring sites. Great individual variability exists in the length of exposure and total dose needed to result in argyria.

I hate it when doctors dont study and then spew out stuff like they actually know something The MERCK Manual is sometimes referred to as the �Scientific Bible Of Diagnosis And Therapy� by many scientists and doctors. Silver is the only heavy metal not listed in the manual for causing heavy metal poisoning, because it does not cause it. (See MERCK manual (17th Edition, Pg 1880, table 226-1, third item listed, for the full list of heavy metals that cause toxic nephropathy). As stated above argyria comes from chemical silver products and cannot come from silver metal.

The reader is referred to the followed articles from the recent medical literature:
1) Case report: skin discoloration following administration of colloidal silver in cystic fibrosis. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2007 Dec;19(6):733-5.
2) So what if you are blue? Oral colloidal silver and argyria are out: safe dressings are in. Adv Skin Wound Care. 2007 Jun;20(6):326-30
3) A case of argyria after colloidal silver ingestion. J Cutan Pathol. 2006 Dec;33(12):809-11
4) Systemic argyria associated with ingestion of colloidal silver. Dermatol Online J. 2005 Mar 1;11(1):12
5) Argyria associated with colloidal silver supplementation. Int J Dermatol. 2003 Jul;42(7):549
6) Myoclonic status epilepticus following repeated oral ingestion of colloidal silver. Neurology. 2004 Apr 27;62(8):1408-10
7) Severe generalized argyria secondary to ingestion of colloidal silver protein. Clin Exp Dermatol. 2003 May;28(3):254-6
8) Argyria following the use of dietary supplements containing colloidal silver protein. Cutis. 2000 Nov;66(5):373-4

FDA recorded a ruling in 1999 regarding the use of colloidal silver:

�The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a final rule establishing that all over-the-counter (OTC) drug products containing colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts for internal or external use are not generally recognized as safe and effective and are misbranded. FDA is issuing this final rule because many OTC drug products containing colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts are being marketed for numerous serious disease conditions and FDA is not aware of any substantial scientific evidence that supports the use of OTC colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts for these disease conditions.�

I think this company has great potential. I found out you can buy into it under the symbol (CFTN)

In December of 2000 a JAMA article written by
Barbara Starfield stated that it was estimated that over a hundred thousand people had died that year as a side effect of antibiotics used correctly. Only including those used correctly. That year there were no deaths associated with the medicinal use of silver. To most of us that would mean that the use of silver is over a hundred thousand times more safe.
The light abuse of any antibiotic will kill you, the sustained longterm abuse of huge amounts of silver liquid over years of time will only result in a possible but rare condition called argyria. Sure you can find a few rare cases of the blue man. But at least he is not dead! I am not against antibiotics, but my first line of defense is much safer, effective, and used by millions of people. Currently the FDA has approved over 80 silver products for safe human use, many within the last year. I have used an ounce three to four times a week for over 10 years have almost never been sick and sorry no blue.

Utah, the land of the most gullible population in the nation.