More about taking silver

The Jan. 21, "Daily Mail" contained an article on the use of silver solutions for the prevention and treatment of infections. This piece will expand on that with an emphasis on safety issues. Although the use of ionic and colloidal silver solutions is quite safe, there has continued to be concern over the one major complication of silver usage, namely argyria.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System states regarding silver: "The critical effect in humans ingesting silver is argyria, a medically benign but permanent bluish-gray discoloration of the skin." You will note that this applies to the "ingestion," or drinking of silver solutions, which I personally don't recommend. According to the EPA, the safe amount of silver intake is 5 mcg per kilogram of body weight per day. We'll find an easier way to arrive at a safe dose.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) says: "Most of the silver that is eaten or breathed in leaves the body in the feces within about a week. Argyria occurs in people who eat or breathe in silver compounds over a long period (several months to many years)."

Silver impacts bodies differently depending on such factors as body weight, health status, and antioxidant levels. It would be wise to consider "silver holidays" (1-2 weeks or months of non-use) for those who use it daily, and also to drink plenty of water. Dr. Jonathan Wright advises taking the following to provide extra antioxidants to help process silver out of the body: 400 IU of vitamin E, 200 mcg of selenium, and 500 mg of N-acetyl cysteine (NAL). Again, this would be for those who continue to take in silver daily for long periods of time.

Most of us will only use silver for short periods, such as for a day or two to prevent an illness, or for several days to treat one. There are some viruses that will not respond, so if there is no significant improvement within two or three days, there's no use continuing silver for that illness. I use it routinely after exposure to illnesses, and certainly at the first sign of infection. Kill those first few virus particles before they can replicate!

The Silver Safety Council offers guidelines for the safe use of silver. If you use silver daily, the safe dose is found by multiplying your weight by 12, and dividing that number by the ppm (parts per million) of the silver product you are using. For instance, for a person weighing 170 pounds, this weight times 12 equals 2040. If your silver contains 18 ppm silver, when you divide 2040 by 18 you get 113. This is the number of drops, using an eye dropper, that you could take daily for a lifetime without any fear of argyria. This is one teaspoon per day for this silver solution. (105 drops is about a teaspoon) This would also equate to 32 sprays per day from an atomizer, as sprays contain 3-3.5 drops on average.

For short-term use (such as using silver for a few days to ward off or treat an infection) the Safety Council says you can calculate a safe dose by multiplying your body weight by 120 and dividing by the ppm. Thus, for the above 170 lb person using a solution with 18 ppm, the answer is 1133 drops, or 10 tsps! That would equate to 377 sprays from your atomizer! I think you can appreciate that there is a large safety factor here. Very few people would spray their nose or throat 300 times a day!

A good silver preparation to use contains around 10-20 ppm of silver. There are some companies that will add a salt to their batch in order to save time in preparing their product, and the resulting solutions can contain up to 300 ppm or so of silver! Avoid these. (my own solutions take 3 hours to prepare, and contain 18 ppm silver)

I read about one man who drank 2-3 quarts of silver solution per day (!) and wound up with argyria (duh!). He was so bluish in color that nurses would stop him on the street and offer to call an ambulance! So, use common sense, and remember that most clouds of infections that you will encounter can likely have a silver lining!