Colloidal silver

{{bronze}}[[File:9oz Bottle Colloidal Silver .png|thumb|right|165px|Some of the stuff.]]
{{altmed}}{{cquote|The only thing Rosemary recommends [colloidal silver] for is a gray skin dye. She knows that it is safe, effective, and permanent when used for that purpose. She also knows that being a gray person in a black and white world can have a serious negative impact on your social and economic life.|||The Silver Supplement Fraud<ref>[https://rosemaryjacobs.com/rose1.html The Silver Supplement Fraud]. rosemaryjacobs.com, 1998.</ref>}}
'''Colloidal silver''' is a suspension of microscopic particles of silver, usually in water, that has gained an undeserved reputation as a [[Panacea|cure-all]] with claims that it is a natural broad-spectrum antibiotic, antifungal, and antiviral agent, and as a nonspecific "immune system booster". There are also claims that it is able to treat serious diseases such as [[AIDS]], [[Lyme disease]], tuberculosis, and [[COVID-19]]<ref name="covidwoo" /><ref>[https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-federal-judge-enters-temporary-injunction-against-xephyr-llc-doing Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: Federal judge enters temporary injunction against Xephyr LLC doing business as N-Ergetics, preventing sale of Colloidal Silver Products for COVID-19]. United States Food and Drug Administration, 14 May 2020.</ref> — which are all groundless [[woo]]. Colloidal silver is used topically by applying with a dropper to the skin (for example, as an antiseptic on cuts), or taken internally. There is no empirical evidence that it is effective at all when taken internally for anything except making you look like a Smurf. (And not a particularly healthy Smurf, either.)<ref name="mayo">Brent A. Bauer, [https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/expert-answers/colloidal-silver/faq-20058061 My dad takes colloidal silver for his health. Is it safe?] Mayo Clinic, 25 August 2020. {{quotebox|Supplements containing colloidal silver aren't considered safe or effective for any of the health claims manufacturers make. Silver has no known purpose in the body. It's not an essential mineral.}}</ref> The United States Code of Federal Regulations prohibits vendors from claiming any health benefit from colloidal silver or silver salt-based products.<ref>[https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=310.548 Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Volume 5, Revised as of April 1, 2020.] United States Food and Drug Administration.</ref><ref group=note>Despite federal regulations regarding colloidal silver products, the so-called "health supplement" industry is much less regulated in the United States, leading to a proliferation of [[quack]] colloidal silver products.</ref> The medical consensus is that colloidal silver, despite being readily available as a "health supplement", is dangerous and provides no health benefits. So, basically, it's {{wpl|Toxin|the ''exact opposite'' of a health supplement|,}} like so much of what alternative medicine peddles.<ref>Robert Denison Griffith, Brian J. Simmons, Mohammad-Ali Yazdani Abyaneh, et. al., [https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/fullarticle/2214158 Colloidal Silver, Dangerous and Readily Available]. JAMA Network, 2015.{{quotebox|Advising patients against further use can prevent worsening of skin discoloration and development of renal, hepatic, and neurologic problems that have been reported after long-term ingestion of colloidal silver.}}</ref><ref>Joe Schwarcz, [https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-you-asked/does-taking-colloidal-silver-have-health-benefits Does Taking “Colloidal Silver” Have Health Benefits? The simple answer is no. In fact, there is evidence that taking it orally can actually cause harm.] McGill University, Office for Science and Society, Separating Science from Nonsense, 11 October 2019.</ref><ref group=note>We didn't link to [[Toxin|our own page on toxins]] because that describes the weird stuff that alternative medicine groundlessly claims has adverse health effects, rather than stuff that ''actually'' has demonstrated adverse health effects.</ref>

==Historical use==
Colloidal silver and other compounds and ointments containing suspended silver particles have a history of use in legitimate medicine, but then again, so do [[mercury]] and [[Bloodletting|leeches]]. Historically, colloidal silver's main use was as a topical antibiotic up to about the time of the [[Great Depression]]. It was also given internally as a hit-or-miss attempt (mostly miss) to treat diseases such as [[sexually transmitted disease|gonorrhea]] back in the era before penicillin and other modern antibiotics made such diseases easily curable.<ref name="ny" />

Its use in legitimate medicine was largely abandoned after the 1930s.<ref name="mskcc" /> The reason for this is simply because colloidal silver did not work all that well, and modern antibiotics did. Some doctors continued to prescribe it well into the 1950s, even though the risk of side effects (see below) and poor effectiveness were well-known by then (which speaks very unflattering volumes about the intelligence of those doctors). 

{{quackbox|Colloidal silver is a suspension of submicroscopic metallic silver particles in a colloidal base. Long-term use of silver preparations can lead to argyria, a condition in which silver salts deposit in the skin, eyes, and internal organs, and the skin turns ashen-gray. Many cases of argyria occurred during the pre-antibiotic era when silver was a common ingredient in nose drops. When the cause became apparent, doctors stopped recommending their use, and reputable manufacturers stopped producing them. The official drug guidebooks (United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary) have not listed colloidal silver products since 1975.|<ref>Stephen Barrett, [https://quackwatch.org/related/PhonyAds/silverad/ Colloidal Silver: Risk Without Benefit]. Quackwatch, 29 January 2019.</ref>}}

==Scientific evidence==
Colloidal silver has been shown to have antibacterial properties ''in vitro'' (in a petri dish or test tube), and in fact it is still used by NASA and the World Health Organization as a drinking water disinfectant,<ref>Felipe Solsona and Juan Pablo Méndez, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060715111550/http://whqlibdoc.who.int/paho/2003/a85637.pdf Water Disinfection]. Pan American Center for Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office of the World Health Organization, 2003.</ref> but no evidence<ref group=note>Just to head off any [[crank]]s — we mean [[Peer review|''real'']] [[Scientific method|evidence]], not [[Anecdotal evidence|your buddy's 3rd-grade teacher's mother's uncle]]!</ref> has ever shown it to be effective ''in vivo'' (used internally in a living being).<ref name="mskcc">[https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/colloidal-silver Colloidal silver]. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 24 April 2020.</ref> [[Altie]]s seem to have a problem distinguishing between the two. ([[Laetrile]] and [[shark cartilage]] have the same problem: anti-cancer cell properties in a petri dish, but completely ineffective as such inside the human body.)  

Furthermore, while it has shown some effectiveness as a ''topical'' antibiotic (this means you put it on your skin and don't consume the stuff, folks), its use was superseded long ago by far more effective topical antibiotics like Neosporin. It just doesn't work all that well.<ref name="mskcc" />

==Poor product quality==
An analysis of 14 popular brands of colloidal silver found that 70% (10/14) of them did not contain silver nanoparticles, which is definitionally colloidal silver, even when they claimed that they did; the 10 products only contained ionic silver.<ref name=kumar>[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7765683/pdf/ijn-15-10425.pdf Comparative Analysis of Commercial Colloidal Silver Products] by Ajeet Kumar and Dan V. Goa (2020) ''International Journal of Nanomedicine'' 15:10425–10434. doi:10.2147/IJN.S287730.</ref> Three of the products also contained concentrations of silver that were inaccurate compared to the products' stated claims.<ref name=kumar/><ref group=note>So not only does colloidal silver not work, but anyone dumb enough to buy it <b>may not even be getting actual colloidal silver</b>. We're not saying it's a [[scam]], but if it [[quack]]s like a duck… oh, who are we kidding, [[woo]] and scams are like trouble-making twins — they're rarely seen apart, and if you see them, '''don't trust them for a second''' and keep a ''very'' close eye on your valuables.</ref>

==So why is it now such a big alternative medicine fad?==
Why did this quaint and archaic nostrum that was abandoned by mainstream medicine over 60 years ago become a staple in health food stores and among [[quack]]s peddling it on the Internet? The reason appears to be that it was rediscovered among the [[alternative medicine]] crowd around 1990 when antibiotic-resistant bacteria started hitting the news, and articles began appearing in altie publications speculating that this "lost" remedy might be some kind of "[[silver bullet]]"<ref group=note>See what we did there?</ref> that would be effective when modern antibiotics fail. By the mid 1990s, the classified ad section of [[Liberty Lobby|''Spotlight'' newspaper]] (a fairly reliable early indicator of soon-to-be-popular quack [[patent medicine]] fads) was filled with ads for colloidal silver and plans for homebrew colloidal silver generators. Interest in colloidal silver spread over the Internet among groups discussing plans for surviving an expected breakdown of the infrastructure, and therefore an expectation that antibiotics and medical care in general would be unavailable, due to the [[Y2K]] computer bug. Interest in colloidal silver was especially strong among [[survivalism|survivalists]] because it could easily be manufactured at home using the silver bullion some of them were hoarding, water, and a few batteries — hence, they could make their own "broad-spectrum antibiotic" after society's collapse. It also found interest among a fringe subset of sufferers from AIDS and Lyme disease, who were looking for anything they could take — even if it turned out to be [[false hope]].

Colloidal silver has been hawked by all kinds of [[woo]]-peddlers, including [[Alex Jones]], [[Jim Bakker]], [[Mehmet Oz]], and [[Gwyneth Paltrow]].<ref name="wired" /><ref name="qz">Nikhil Sonnad, [https://qz.com/1010684/all-the-wellness-products-american-love-to-buy-are-sold-on-both-infowars-and-goop/ All the “wellness” products Americans love to buy are sold on both Infowars and Goop]. qz.com, 29 June 2017.</ref><ref name="covidwoo">Colby Hall, [https://www.eatthis.com/coronavirus-cure-food-scams/ 7 "Coronavirus Cure" Food Scams You Shouldn't Believe]. eatthis.com, 11 March 2020.</ref> In 2020, Bakker was sued by the state of [[Missouri]] for claiming that a colloidal silver-based substance he sells could cure COVID-19, in violation of federal law.<ref>Matthew S. Schwartz, [https://www.npr.org/2020/03/11/814550474/missouri-sues-televangelist-jim-bakker-for-selling-fake-coronavirus-cure Missouri Sues Televangelist Jim Bakker For Selling Fake Coronavirus Cure]. NPR, 11 March 2020.</ref> The State of [[New York]] followed up by sending a cease-and-desist letter to Bakker, as his claims violate the state's consumer protection laws. A few days later, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission told Bakker to quit hawking this junk on Facebook and his [[webshite]], and shortly thereafter, the products disappeared from his online store.<ref>[https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/bakker_cease_and_desist_letter_notification.pdf Re: Cease and Desist Notification]. State of New York, Office of the Attorney General, 3 March 2020.</ref> Alex Jones was slapped by the FDA in 2020 for claiming that a variety of colloidal silver crap for sale on his webshite could cure COVID-19.<ref>Palmer Haasch, [https://www.insider.com/fda-alex-jones-warning-colloidal-silver-coronavirus-cures-infowars-toothpaste-2020-4 The FDA has warned InfoWars founder Alex Jones to stop selling false coronavirus cures, including silver toothpaste]. insider.com, 10 April 2020.</ref><ref>Leah Rosenbaum, [https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahrosenbaum/2020/04/09/infowars-founder-alex-jones-must-stop-selling-fake-coronavirus-silver-cures-fda-says/?sh=eed5bdd541ac InfoWars Founder Alex Jones Must Stop Selling Fake Coronavirus Silver Cures, FDA Says]. Forbes, 9 April 2020.</ref><ref group=note>Once again, we're not saying that woo and scams are the exact same thing, but they might as well be.</ref>

It has since become a [[folk remedy]] popular in the health food store market, and even taken daily, even by those not suffering from anything in particular, on the basis that it is some sort of prophylactic against infection or an immune system booster. Even during its use in mainstream medicine, it was on an acute or one-time basis only, such as eye drops in newborn babies. Those who take it daily for months or years are especially at risk of its side effects, while gaining no known benefit.

==Side effects==
[[File:Argyria3.jpg|thumb|Normal white person's hand with hand of a white person who is now a blue person.]]
[[File:Argyria 2.jpg|thumb|Human and blueman (right)]]

The main side effect is that it can make you look like a Smurf.<ref group=note>And by "Smurf", we mean "[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShoddyKnockoffProduct shoddy knockoff] Smurf who is clearly overdue for a very long stay at a hospital".</ref> Those who take it internally on a frequent basis can develop {{wpl|argyria||,}} a permanent blue-grey discoloration of the skin.<ref name="mayo" /> The buildup of silver salts in the skin creating this discoloration is cumulative. Cases of argyria have mostly occurred in people taking colloidal silver on a regular basis over a period of months or years, but the effect seems to vary wildly from person to person.<ref name="nih">[https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/colloidal-silver Colloidal silver]. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, April 2017.</ref>

Silver can also react with some legitimate antibiotics such as tetracycline, rendering them less effective, so those who take colloidal silver as a "supplement" to their physician-prescribed antibiotic regimen are playing {{wpl|Russian roulette}} with their health.<ref name="nih" /><ref group=note>In case you need that spelled out further, it's a {{wpl|Gambling|gamble}} where the ''most favorable'' outcome is '''absolutely nothing happening''', and there's a substantially-larger-than-zero [[risk]] of ending up as an extremely ugly corpse.</ref>

Excessive internal use of colloidal silver has also been linked to kidney damage, and use during pregnancy is not recommended due to the risk of developmental abnormalities.<ref name="mskcc" /><ref group=note>Okay, to be blunt, ''any'' internal use of colloidal silver is excessive, considering that there are no possible beneficial effects. We're talking about ''extremely'' excessive use here.</ref>

Of course, in a campaign to discredit the medical industry, there was a video (now deleted from YouTube) that claims that Paul Karason, who turned blue after using colloidal silver,<ref>Susan Donaldson James, [https://abcnews.go.com/Health/internet-sensation-papa-smurf-dies-blue-people-live/story?id=20368758 Internet Sensation 'Papa Smurf' Dies; Other Blue People Live On]. ABC News, 25 September 2013.</ref> and was used by the medical industry as a shocking example to demonstrate the effects of argyria caused by consuming massive amounts of colloidal silver, was in fact a fraud, since he was not taking "real" colloidal silver… even though no such definition of colloidal silver exists to distinguish his homebrewed colloidal silver from the "real" stuff that quacks charge so much for.<ref name="wired">Mallory Pickett, [https://www.wired.com/story/does-colloidal-silver-work/ Colloidal Silver Turns You Blue—But Can It Save Your Life?] Wired, 5 October 2017.</ref>

Stan Jones, a [[crank]] and member of the [[Libertarian Party]], consumed a whole lot of colloidal silver out of fear that after Y2K, antibiotics would be unavailable; this made him permanently blue, in the manner described above.<ref name="ny">Robert Sullivan, [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/11/11/a-case-of-the-blues A Case of the Blues]. The New Yorker, 3 November 2002.</ref><ref>Bob Moser, [https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2002/antigovernment-politician-stan-jones-adopts-%E2%80%98patriot%E2%80%99-colloidal-silver-habit Antigovernment Politician Stan Jones Adopts ‘Patriot’ Colloidal Silver Habit]. [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], 18 December 2002.</ref> However, what Stan Jones was using was not colloidal silver, but a silver salt solution. Some people feel the need to speed up the colloidal silver making process by [[Salt woo|adding salt]], but the only ingredients which are actually necessary to make colloidal silver are distilled water and silver. Considering the [[woo]] applications it's being put to, the individual [[Bullshit|definition of necessary]] could be rather… [[Crank magnetism|varied]].

==See also==
*[[Nanotechnology]]
*[[Precious Metals Nano Water]]

==External links==
*[http://www.rosemaryjacobs.com/ Rosemary Jacobs' website] - a real-life victim of argyria.

==Notes==
{{reflist|2|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}
 
[[Category:Alternative medicine]]
[[Category:Elements]]
[[Category:Toxins]]
[[Category:Water woo]]
[[Category:Woo]]

Categories: Alternative medicine, Elements, Toxins, Water woo, Woo