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Silver Solutions, Argyria and Risk

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Silver Solutions, Argyria and Risk

_http://www.desbio.com/argyria.html_ (http://www.desbio.com/argyria.html)

Introduction

A great deal of misinformation exists on the use of silver products causing

one's skin to turn blue or gray. Only the extreme misuse of very strong

silver solutions has caused this condition which is known as Argyria. The

extreme

misuse of any substance can cause harm or even death to a person. If a child

were to eat a bottle of children's vitamins, the child would most likely

suffer serious side affects. In contrast, if a child were to accidentally drink

an entire eight ounce bottle of American Biotech Labs' 10 ppm silver product,

he or she would suffer no ill affects at all. This article will discuss, in

detail, the following information regarding silver:

* Historical usage of silver solutions

* What is Argyria?

* Independent safety tests backing American Biotech Labs' products

* Government safety data on silver (how much silver the US government

deems safe for daily usage)

Historical Misinformation Regarding Silver

As numerous problems with the use of prescription antibiotics have arisen,

people searching for a safe solution, have resurrected the use of silver

products as an antibiotic alternative. However, some people using and selling

the

silver products have made false claims with no data back-up. Often times

claims came only from anecdotal evidence. Because of the non-existence of test

data, these products were and are shunned by many health professionals. It is

also unfortunate that most health professionals have no real knowledge of

silver. This lack of knowledge may cause them to relay incorrect information to

patients. As with any new technology, the medical community seems to be

pitifully slow at grasping the new concepts. It is interesting to note that

there

are 83 silver products currently registered and in use by the medical

industry.

We, as consumers, are finally being warned that antibiotics are overused and

now becoming ineffective. All evidence from many independent laboratories

indicates that silver is a viable, safe antibiotic alternative. However, many

doctors dismiss this option by continuing the myth that the use of silver will

cause the patient to turn blue or can cause toxic build-up.<

What Is Argyria?

Argyria is a non-toxic condition caused by the extreme misuse of very strong

silver products. When huge amounts of silver are consumed over time and the

body is unable to excrete the silver through both the urine and the fecal

tracts the body may slough off the excess silver into the skin cells to get rid

of it. This condition is known as argyria. Argyria has no known side effects

except that it causes a graying of the skin color. The condition is only

cosmetic in nature. In most cases the discoloration is permanent. Argyria has

never been reported with the use of low part-per-million, non-salt related

silver products. In fact, because so many silver products are being used

nationwide, the US EPA issued a RFD or (daily intake limit) level of silver that

could

be safely consumed every day for a person's entire life. The EPA RFD, issued

in 1991, is discussed in detail later in this report.

What Silver Products Causes Argyria?

The US Federal Register listed the silver products that cause argyria as

silver salts, including; silver nitrate, silver arsphenamine, silver chloride

and possibly silver iodide. These products were sold until about 1975 under

various labels consisting of silver solutions ranging from 5-30% silver

[50,000-300,000 ppm (parts per million) of silver] (Federal Register, FDA-21CFR

Part

310, pg. 53685). In comparison American Biotech Labs silver supplement

products are only 10 ppm and 22 ppm. American Biotech Labs' EPA approved

hospital/home surface disinfectant is only 32 ppm.

Silver Salts Are Not Colloidal Silver

Silver Salts have been mistakenly called colloidal silver products by some

misguided individuals. By definition, the word colloidal means a system in

which particles larger than molecules in size (in this case retaining their

metallic identity) of one substance are suspended throughout the second

substance. In the case of American Biotech Labs' silver product, finite

particles of

metallic silver are suspended within highly purified water. Silver salts

readily dissolve in water, and therefore are not colloidal in nature.

No Comparison Between ABL's Silver Solutions and Other Silver Products

American Biotech Labs' silver products have been proven to kill bacteria at

levels of between 2.5-5 ppm. Some silver products range between 50,000-300,000

ppm. Thus, American Biotech Labs' products are effective with concentrations

of 20,000 - 60,000 times less silver in the solution. Better technology

which produces a more useful (bacteria lethal) product would seem to be the

difference. One can easily conclude that because American Biotech Labs' silver

solution effectively kills bacteria using thousands of times less silver, the

risk of any possible side effects has been eliminated.

Minimum Amount Of Silver Known To Cause Argyria

Hill and Pillsbury (1939) stated, “the ordinary clinical use of colloidal

silver compounds practically never gives rise to any gross untoward effect

other than argyria.†The minimum amount of silver known to cause argyria in

adults, from the use of any silver compound (including salts) is 900 mg of

silver

taken orally in one year. In order to reach this level of silver intake, an

individual would have to consume 380-8 oz. bottles of American Biotech Labs'10

PPM silver product within one year. Suggested adult dosage is about ½ to 1

teaspoon taken one to three times daily. This means that an individual would

have to consume over 50 times the normal adult dosage, every day for a year to

reach the lowest level ever known to cause argyria. It should be noted that

EPA standards for the amount of silver that can be safely consumed in drinking

water is .005 milligrams per kilogram of weight per day (EPA RED document

page 2, 4th paragraph). This means that a normal sized adult could safely

consume one ounce (6 tsp) of the 10 PPM American Biotech Labs silver product

every

day for a 72 year life span and still be within the safe limits as defined

by the EPA. In the EPA RED document for silver, the EPA goes on to state (3rd

page, 4th paragraph), “The EPA does not anticipate that dietary exposure to

these low levels of silver will be associated with any significant degree of

risk.â€

American Biotech Labs Safety Data

American Biotech Labs has had five independent toxicity tests completed on

its 10 and 22 PPM silver products. The American Biotech Labs product was

tested in animals at as much as 200 times the normal adult dosage, or the

equivalent of an adult consuming 32 full ounces of the 10 ppm product at one

sitting.

In conclusion to the animal tests, the independent medical testing

laboratory stated that the ASAP Solution® [smart Silver] was found to be

completely

non-toxic to the test animals. The product was also tested for cytotoxicity in

both human epithelial cells and also African green monkey or Vero cells, at

both the regular 10 ppm level and also at the extra-strength 22 ppm level. In

all four cytotoxicity tests the Amreican Biotech Labs' products were found

completely non-toxic to both the human and Vero cells.

Absorption And Retention Of Ingested Silver

According to the EPA IRIS Report on silver (Integrated Risk Information

Systems) (5th page, 1st paragraph) it states that a number of tests were

completed to test the absorption and retention of ingested silver in a number

of

animals (including primates). In conclusion, the test work indicated that

between

90-99% of ingested silver was excreted on the second day after ingestion and

greater than 99% was excreted in less than a week. In other words, almost

all the ingested silver was out of the body in only two days, which indicates

that silver does not build up in the system when consumed in small amounts.

Levels Of Silver Usage Historically Deemed Safe

Many different silver products have been and are still being used throughout

the medical industry. Up until the advent of chemical antibiotics which came

about in the 1940's, some very strong silver products were being used as

antibiotics. Of the millions of people who used these concentrated silver

products, there were no reported deaths and only 239 reported cases of

generalized

Argyria (EPA Report ECAO-CIN-026 Jan “91 " Pg. VI-3). In that same EPA report

on page VI-4 it states that Gaul and Staud (1935) suggested 8 grams of silver

arsphenamine (used by injection at 145,000 ppm strength) as a safe total

dose. They also noted that other authors suggest safe total doses of 12-15

grams, based on clinical experience. The work of Furchner et al (1968) as

stated

above showed that small amounts of silver did not build up in the system of

primates. But, for arguments sake, if we assumed that every bit of ingested

silver was retained by the body, and that a person was using the American

Biotech Labs 10 ppm silver solution at a level of two teaspoons daily, we can

state

that it would take an individual 235.66 years of daily usage at two

teaspoons to achieve the total consumption of 8 grams (a level they deemed

safe).

ASAP Silver [smart Silver] VS Prescription Antibiotics Usage

Prescription antibiotic usage, unlike silver, can be very dangerous and in

numerous cases can cause death. In an article in JAMA (Journal of the American

Medical Association) in December of the year 2000, Barbra Starfield

estimated that there were 106,000 deaths yearly, that were caused by the use of

antibiotics used correctly. This number does not include deaths from antibiotic

which were used or prescribed incorrectly. There were no reported deaths or

injuries in the year 2000 from the medicinal use of silver products.

Conclusion

There is no comparison on the issue of safety between silver products and

prescription antibiotics. Silver is obviously much safer to use. According to

the EPA, who is in charge of defining safe levels of any mineral in water used

for ingestion or drinking, the oral consumption of small amounts of silver

in water on a daily basis poses no significant degree of risk. Unless an

individual were constantly consuming (every day for over a year) over 50 times

the

recommended daily dosage of the American Biotech Labs' product at 10 ppm,

there is no possibility of that individual contracting the non-toxic condition

known as argyria.

 

 

 

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