What is Colloidal Silver?

So, what is this “silver ion”? Well, it’s really more commonly known as “colloidal silver”. 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.
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 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...”
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.
Healing Skin & Other Soft Tissues
In the 1970’s, Dr. Carl Moyer, Chairman of Washington University’s Department of Surgery, received a grant to develop better treatments for burn victims. Dr. Harry Margraf worked with Dr. Moyer and other surgeons as chief biochemist on this project. They tested 22 antiseptic compounds and rejected all of them. The problem was that infections in burns often failed to respond to antibiotics. Most antiseptics actually destroyed the delicate healing tissues in severe burns and were very painful. The greatest problem was the bacterium Pseudomonas acruginose, which is particularly infectious to burns and fails to respond to all common antiseptics and antibiotics.
In his research into medical history, Dr. Margraf found numerous references to silver as an antimicrobial agent. It was found that silver has been used for hundreds of years in one form or another to treat infection and has well proven itself to be totally nontoxic at all concentrations. Bacteria have never developed an immunity to it. He found references to it as a catalyst that disables the enzymes anaerobic microorganisms depend on. Dr. Margraf therefore tried silver nitrate, the same solution used in newborn babies’ eyes at birth. It worked! However, he found it disturbed the balance of body salts, stained everything it touched and in high concentrations was corrosive and painful. After further study he found that all of these problems were solved by colloidal silver. With colloidal silver as the base, he then developed a salve, marketed as “silver suladiazine” that has been extremely effective in treating the infections and promoting the healing in serious burns. It is now routinely used for severe burn victims, resulting in a large reduction of scarring and a heavy reduction of deaths for extensive severe burns.
The article in Science Digest, March 1978, relates: “A speeding car overturned and burst into flames. The 18-year-old driver suffered burns all over his face, neck, arms, hands, back, stomach, and legs --- burns covered more than 80 percent of his body. Until recently, this would have been a death sentence. Doctors knew how to restore vital body fluids and salts, but had no way to fight infection, the primary cause of death in burn cases. Fortunately, for this youth, a new silver compound killed deadly bacteria and enabled him to heal. He was out of the hospital within four months.”
One line of research that has led to this change of thinking is described in the best seller, “The Body Electric”, in which Robert O. Becker, leading research scientist in the field of bone regeneration, states on pg. 167: “Of course, the germ-killing action of silver has been known for some time...the Soviets use silver ions to sterilize recycled water aboard their space stations...It kills even antibiotic- resistant strains, and also works on fungus infections.” On pg. 175 he says: “It stimulates bone-forming cells, cures the most common stubborn infections of all kinds of bacteria, and stimulates healing in the skin and other soft tissues.”
Certainly that is a broad statement! But Dr. Becker further relates a fascinating story which would seem to substantiate his belief. A man’s broken right tibia and fibula refused to bond and the skin refused to heal over a large area of the leg for a year and a half. The leg was infected with five kinds of bacteria, all of which refused to respond to antibiotics. As a last resort before amputation, Dr. Becker treated the condition with silver charged with a very minute electrical current. This produced silver ions in the bone area and at the surface area. “...I debrided the wound, removing the dead tissue and all grossly infected or dead bone. There wasn’t much left afterward. It was an enormous excavation running almost from his knee to his ankle. In the operating room, we soaked a big piece of silver nylon in saline solution and laid it over the wound. ...We packed the fabric in place with saline-soaked gauze, wrapped the leg, and connected the battery unit.”
About two weeks later, Dr. Becker tells us: “all of our bacterial cultures were sterile -- all five kinds had been killed. The soft healing tissue, called granulation tissue, was spreading out and covering the bone. In two weeks, the whole base of the wound, which had been over eight square inches of raw bone, was covered with this friendly pink carpet. The skin was beginning to grow in, too, so we could forget about the grafts we thought we’d need to do. I decided to take an X-ray to see how much bone he’d lost.” [he was expecting the bone to start withdrawing before the knitting process began] “I could hardly believe the picture. There was clearly some bone growth! ...I removed the cast, felt the leg, and found that the pieces were all stuck together. John watched, and when I was done, he lifted his leg into the air triumphantly.”
After extensive experiments along these lines, Dr. Becker concluded: “They” (cells exposed to positive silver ions)...”profoundly stimulate healing...in a way unlike any known natural process...Whatever its precise mode of action may be, the electrically generated silver ion can produce enough cells for blastemas; it has restored my belief that full regeneration of limbs, and other body parts, can be accomplished in humans.” When Dr. Becker placed the silver-coated nylon in the wound and connected an electrode at each end, he produced silver ions: “colloidal silver.” This cannot be entirely credited with the rapid healing of the bone, as his research proved that the small electrical current was effective in the bone growth all by itself. However, the silver electrodes proved much more effective than any other metal and this would seem to lead to supposition that the silver ions are effective in stimulating the healing of the bone when in direct contact. His continuing experiments left no doubt of this.
Medical & Non-Medical Uses
Certain bacteria are essential to healthy body function, such as acidophilus. Several researchers claim colloidal silver only attacks the unfriendly pathogens and will not harm the friendly. But one must wonder how it can possibly differentiate. One explanation is that the friendly bacteria are aerobic, while unfriendly bacteria are anaerobic. Also, it is said that the silver does not attack bacteria directly, but rather decomposes certain enzymes the anaerobic bacteria, viruses, yeast, and molds require. The silver acts as a catalyst and is not consumed in the process. It is probable that the reason the bacteria cannot develop a resistance to silver, as they do to antibiotics, is because silver does not directly them directly, but rather destroys the enzymes they depend on.
But Dr. Becker’s experiments seem to show that colloidal silver not only kills the pathogens, but also produces dramatic healing of tissue, such as his statement of the skin growth on the leg quoted above. The silver ion causes some cells to restructure into cells with no differentiation. These cells can turn into any cell that is needed. Only these dedifferentiated cells can be used to create the cells necessary to replace destroyed cells such as in a wound or rebuild missing tissue. It seems to be for this reason that colloidal silver heals injuries without scarring, or at least greatly reduces scarring, while greatly accelerating the reconstruction or general healing of wounds. Scar tissue develops when dedifferentiated cells are in short supply. Therefore it would seem, from the evidence at hand, that it would reduce or prevent internal scarring and promote internal healing after surgery.
In “Report: Colloidal Silver, Health Consciousness, Vol.15, No. 4”, it is stated “Silver aids the developing fetus in growth, health, and eases the delivery and recovery.”
The author has personally used a strong dose of colloidal silver (4 oz. of 500 parts per million) for a cold in its early stages. It provided relief in two hours and cured the cold completely in about 24 hours. Others say that it quickly cures their colds in more advanced stages.
When will we see silver in our everyday life for non-medical use? It seems it is already more prominent in our lives than most people realize. In Health Consciousness, Vol. 15, No. 4, Pg. 5 we read:
“In the former Soviet Union, silver is used to sterilize recycled water aboard space shuttles. NASA has also selected a silver/water system for its space shuttle. Internationally, many airlines use silver water filters to guarantee passenger safety against water-borne diseases such as dysentery. The Swiss government has approved use of such silver water filters in homes and offices. Here in the U.S., some city municipalities use silver in the treatment of sewage. Silver works so well in purifying water that it is sometimes used to purify swimming pool water. It doesn’t sting the eyes as chlorine does, and it does kill mosquito larva. An experiment conducted in Nebraska demonstrates its effectiveness: fifty gallons of raw sewage pumped into a pool without any disinfectant. A standard measure of contamination is the count of E. coli, a bacteria organism found in the intestinal tract. The count soared to 7000 E. coli cells per milliliter of water. When the water was exposed to silver electrodes, within three hours it was completely free of E. coli.”
Many other uses are suggested by Dr. Bob Beck, (not to be confused with Dr. Robert O. Becker) such as spraying the fungus on plants, to purify the water of swimming pools and spas, disinfectants for home cleaning, diaper rash, all skin infections, eye infections (do not use a strong solution in the eyes), spraying during inhalation for lung problems, for animals, etc.
In “Use of Colloids in Health and Disease”, author Dr. Henry Crooks says colloidal silver is highly anti-viral. In laboratory tests he found that “all fungus, virii, bacterium, steptococcus, 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 five parts per million.” Dr. Crooks tells us there are no serious side effects whatsoever from high concentrations.
Research scientist Dr. Gary Smith reports that he has noticed a correlation between low silver levels, sickness and immune deficiency . He found people who have low silver levels tend to be frequently sick and to have innumerable colds, flus, fevers, and other illnesses. The research of Dr. Gary Smith would seem to support the belief that colloidal silver is an entirely natural healing agent.
Parasites are being recognized more and more as a cause of failing health. Hulda Clark, Ph.D., N.D., author of “The Cure for All Cancers” and “The Cure for HIV and AIDS”, tells us that neither cancer nor HIV can exist without parasites and that if we eliminate the parasites, the disease will be gone. Health Consciousness, Vol. 15, No. 4 says: “Parasites are also killed [by colloidal silver], as they have an egg-stage in their reproductive cycle, which is one celled and therefore killed in six minutes or less.” In as much as there are many kinds of parasites, this may be inconclusive. However, tests have shown that mosquito larva are effectively killed by colloidal silver. It should be remembered that to rid oneself of parasites by killing the eggs or larvae means that one must continue the treatment until all of the adults die, probably of old age. More research is needed. But if the AIDS or Cancer and other conditions can be effectively treated with colloidal silver, then any effects on parasites is a free benefit.
In as much as AIDS is the result of a virtually destroyed immune system, it would be surprising to find that colloidal silver did not have a dramatic effect on AIDS. AIDS is a viral disease, and antibiotics seldom have any effect on any virus, but the colloidal silver ion is highly effective. The evidence strongly supports the theory that colloidal silver is highly effective against all strains of virus, curing even the common cold in one dose. Where many drugs on the market suppress certain symptoms of a cold, colloidal silver is said to kill off the virus that causes it to hang on. AIDS, like all other viral infections, is unaffected by antibiotics, which each kill off only a few strains of bacteria and none are effective against the virus, yeast’s, or fungi. Yet, researchers are telling us that colloidal silver is highly effective against all of these.
One serious condition typical of AIDS is rapid aging. Aging is generally considered as due to a slowing down of the body’s ability to replace worn out cells fast enough. This slowing down begins by the time of adulthood and continues into old age. In “Report: Colloidal Silver, Health Consciousness, Vol. 15, No. 4, it is stated that “Silver aids the developing fetus in growth, health, and eases the delivery and recovery.” If colloidal silver aids the growth of a fetus so noticeably, will it reduce the aging process? From the research of Dr. Becker, it would seem colloidal silver will produce the dedifferentiated cells necessary to prevent this slowdown of cell replacement. It is probable that the weakened immune system is incapable of producing the undifferentiated cells necessary to rebuild worn out cells. Colloidal silver produced the needed cells to make this possible.
All of this is being discovered and rediscovered at the same time that disease bacteria are developing immunity to modern antibiotics. Furthermore, 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!
Candida, a Problem Easily Solved!
Candida, Yeast Infections, and Athlete’s Foot
Yeast and mold infections are among the most difficult to treat of human ailments. Some of them are also among the most debilitating, such as Candida yeast. Candida yeast will readily grow in any moist area of the body, such as the mouth (“thrush”), groin (“jock itch”), vagina (“yeast infection”), and intestines.
Candida yeast is found naturally in the body, but is normally kept under control by friendly bacteria, such as acidophilus. But Candida yeast often gets out of control following the use of antibiotics. The antibiotic kills off the friendly acidophilus and aerobic bacteria but does not affect the yeast. Without the friendly organisms such as the multiple strains of acidophilus to control it, Candida grows fast.
The excess sugar of diabetes will also provide food for yeast, causing it to proliferate. Diabetics are therefore especially prone to this type of problem.
The intestines form perfect breeding grounds for Candida. If the condition becomes bad enough, eventually the Candida irritate an area of the intestine so much that their toxins penetrate the intestinal wall into the blood stream, where they can break down the immune system. Soon the Candida infection itself passes through the intestinal wall and the white blood cells are consumed in their struggle to control the infection, further destroying the immune system.
Thus, Candida is a common contributor to many diseases and conditions, such as AIDS, cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, colds, flus, etc.. Almost all disease and health problems are greatly aggravated by Candida.
Candida can sometimes be controlled by increasing the acidity of the body, especially the area the yeast is growing in. This can be done by eating acid foods, such as vinaigrette salad dressings, and by applying vinegar mixed with water to the problem area.
The best antibiotic commonly used to treat this condition is Nystatin. But Nystatin is only marginally effective against yeast, and remember that the problems probably started with the use of antibiotics to begin with.
Normally the body can handle minor yeast infections. However, when the yeast reaches the infectious stage wherein it is poisoning the blood and the immune system grows weak, such infections as athlete’s foot, vaginal yeast infections, and fungus infections under the nails cannot be fought off.
A common treatment for the general infection is a diet completely free of all sugars, even fruit and starches along with taking Nystatin. However, anyone who has tried this treatment will tell you that this very strict diet is almost impossible to follow and does little more than keep the infection from proliferating.
Therefore, it is wise to take as much acidophilus as is convenient, but to build up the use of colloidal silver gradually, usually starting with four oz. of colloidal silver a day, of about ten parts per million, or the equivalent. This is usually increased by about one oz. per day until a breaking out appears or the conditions are relieved.
The colloidal silver provides a three-fold attack on the problems of Candida. First, the colloidal silver kills off anaerobic bacteria and virii wherever it comes in contact with them. Therefore, the colloidal silver virtually provides a secondary immune system against all types of disease and infections, while treating the Candida. Thus much of the problems of Candida are treated immediately, before the Candida can be cleaned out of the system. Second, colloidal silver is unusually effective in treating the Candida infection itself. And third, colloidal silver has a strange and dynamic way of healing injured and damaged tissues fast. Since yeast infections of all kinds usually attack and consume the living tissue, a healing process is badly needed, and colloidal silver has a very unique way of healing these tissues fast.
Users continually report that colloidal silver will cure athlete’s foot, vaginal yeast infections, as well as Candida infections of the skin very quickly and then heals the damaged tissues. However, these are often signs of an inner infection. Until the yeast infection within the body is cured, external infections keep on returning. That is no reason not to treat these conditions. But if they return, it is time to look to the source of the problems as being inward. One can, of course, find explanations for the sources of the re-infection. However, a healthy body seldom succumbs to these infections.
Colloidal silver used internally and externally and is the most effective treatment available today for all of these conditions, but more important to us on the path of spiritual growth is that it clears out the body of so many blocks that inhibit the process of raising our vibratory state. As we all know it is essential to increase our vibrations if we wish to reach the level of Christ Consciousness. So perhaps this could be what we have all been waiting for.
Anyone interested in this product can get in touch with me (Jim), as Quest is now producing Colloidal Silver and manufacturing the machines for you to produce it yourself.
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