Is Colloidal Silver the Latest Incarnation of “Snake Oil”?
Is Colloidal Silver the Latest Incarnation of “Snake Oil”?
By Steve Barwick, author, The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
I recently counted over a dozen online articles proclaiming that colloidal silver is little more than modern-day “snake oil,” and that only “evidence based medicine” should be used when choosing remedies for health and medical problems.
In just a moment, I’ll demonstrate how utterly false that shrill charge against colloidal silver is.
But first, I think it’s important to understand that the term “snake oil” actually comes from the Chinese practice of using the oil from the fat of snakes as a treatment for joint pain, arthritis and bursitis.
The Chinese brought this practice with them to America in the 1800’s, when they came to work on the railroads, which was grueling and often painful work.
According to GreenMedInfo.com:
“When the Chinese workers offered the pain remedy to westerners as a palliative it was perceived to be a primitive form of quackery by the medical authorities of that time. Hence the origin of the derogatory meaning of the term ‘snake oil.’“
Of course, modern medicine is barely beginning to catch up to traditional Chinese medicinal practices which have been used successfully for the past 2,000 years.
But one of the things researchers have discovered in recent years is the fact that the Chinese were quite right about snake oil. It actually works.
- For example, here’s a modern clinical study demonstrating snake oil to be a powerful anti-inflammatory agent (i.e., quells pain and inflammation), as well as a surprisingly effective antimicrobial.
- And here’s a clinical study demonstrating snake oil to have a beneficial effect on blood sugar in diabetic animals (and thus, potentially, on humans as well).
- Here’s a clinical study demonstrating snake oil to have a beneficial effect on physical endurance.
- Here’s a clinical study demonstrating snake oil to have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial benefits:
- And finally, here’s a clinical study, published in a medical journal for plastic surgeons, demonstrating snake oil to have anti-scarring properties on skin that’s been cut open.
Indeed, for the past 20 centuries or longer (i.e., 2,000 years) Chinese medical practitioners have used snake oil for a wide variety of beneficial purposes, as part of their traditional medical practices.
So proponents of so-called “evidence-based medicine” who decry colloidal silver as the latest form of “snake oil” are only a few thousand years behind the curve when it comes to understanding what really works, and what doesn’t, in terms of the healing arts.
They use the derogatory term “snake oil,” and apply it to natural products like colloidal silver, not realizing that real snake oil actually worked!
Is Colloidal Silver “Snake Oil”?
So is colloidal silver actually “snake oil,” in the derogatory sense of the term?
After all, colloidal silver is widely touted to be effective against some 650 different pathogens, while modern medicine’s very best broad spectrum antibiotic drugs are only effective against 20-30 different kinds of pathogens.
So colloidal silver has to be fake, right?
This might surprise you, but Big Pharma apparently doesn’t seem to think colloidal silver is “snake oil.”
For example, a recent clinical study clearly tells us that the medical community is now preparing to add oral doses of silver to their failing antibiotic drugs in order to help stop the drug-resistant bacteria crisis.
Indeed, the study demonstrates that silver makes 26 different prescription antibiotic drugs work better against pathogens. You can learn more about it, in the following article:
What’s more, clinical research from the Department of Microbiology/Molecular Biology at Brigham-Young University, and published in the journal Current Science, Vol. 91, No. 7, October 10, 2006, has demonstrated that colloidal silver works synergistically with prescription antibiotic drugs, and often produces an “additive” effect when used alongside them.
In other words, in many cases colloidal silver actually increases the infection-fighting qualities of those drugs. What’s more, antibiotic drugs that had previously lost their effectiveness against drug-resistant pathogens suddenly regain their full effectiveness when colloidal silver is used with them!
Another clinical study, this one from the Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology & Regenerative Medicine, in Spain, found that antimicrobial silver boosts the effectiveness of prescription antibiotic drugs by up to 1,000x! You can read about it here:
Also, in 2007, another clinical study titled “Synthesis and Effect of Silver Nanoparticles on the Antibacterial Activity of Different Antibiotics Against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli” concluded that the effectiveness of antibiotics like penicillin G, amoxicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, and vancomycin were all increased in the presence antimicrobial silver.
What’s more, here’s a short but fascinating BBC video interview with full-time Professor Jose Ruben Morones-Ramirez of the University of Nuevo León, School of Chemistry, explaining his research into adding silver to prescription antibiotic drugs in order to boost their effectiveness against drug-resistant pathogens:
Professor Ramirez explains in the video interview above that antibiotic drugs laced with silver will likely be a reality within the next five years.
Ramirez conducted this research along with Professor of Biomedical Engineering James J. Collins of Boston University and researchers from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. They were the researchers who first discovered that silver boosts the effectiveness of antibiotic drugs up to 1,000x.
So, as you can see, if colloidal silver is indeed “snake oil,” it’s the kind of ‘snake oil’ that truly works.
Disinfectant Properties of Silver
What’s more, colloidal silver has been proven to work in a number of other venues.
For example, because of its proven antimicrobial and infection-fighting qualities, colloidal silver has become one of the most popular water disinfectants used throughout Mexico, Central and South America, where the colloidal silver product called Microdyn is routinely recommended by the governments of those countries.
Colloidal silver, in its ionic form, has even been used to purify municipal drinking water of unwanted microbes.
Indeed, a company called NVID International Inc. has developed a technology designed to inject very small amounts of ionic silver into the drinking water supply. The study results demonstrate that with only 78 parts per billion of silver ions injected into the city water supply, ALL fecal coliform bacteria were wiped out.
Potters for Peace, as well as other organizations that help provide safe drinking water in developing nations have been infusing colloidal silver into ceramic water filters for years — this, as a means of giving poor people in remote villages where there’s no running water, access to clean, safe water that’s been disinfected of any potentially harmful microbes.
And for decades here in North America a number of companies have manufactured and sold home water filters infused with silver, in order to help keep germs and other potentially harmful microbes from fouling one’s home water supply.
In Europe, colloidal silver is used in the drinking water supplies of thousands of cruise ships and cargo ships, to safely sterilize and disinfect the drinking water. In fact, according to the Jowa Group, a company that makes the little devices ships use for adding colloidal silver to the drinking water:
“Since its introduction in 1970, this unit has been installed in thousands of ships… sterilizing water with the help of silver is an old and well-tried method that goes all the way back to antiquity.
It is completely harmless to humans and animals and the silver ions do not change the taste or smell of the water. This product, called Jowa AG-S, has made us world-famous in the shipping industry!”
You might not realize it, but colloidal silver has even been used in the drinking water of both the NASA and Russian space flight programs, including on the original Space Shuttle (learn more here.) And NASA is getting ready to use colloidal silver again in future manned space flights (learn more here).
So, colloidal silver usage is far more widespread, worldwide, than you might suspect, if you only listened to the skeptics. It’s even used in outer space. How’s that for “snake oil”?
And except in cases where people might have a rare but serious allergy to mineral silver, or in rare cases in which people abusively ingested overly-large amounts of colloidal silver over long periods of time, it’s generally considered to be perfectly safe.
Indeed, my family and I have been using small amounts of colloidal silver every day for the past 24 years, with the only side effect being vastly increased health and well-being. And there are an estimated 10 million colloidal silver users in North and South America alone who would agree with me.
Colloidal Silver and Cancer?
Of course, the term “snake oil” is automatically applied as a derogatory label any time any natural substance is said to “cure cancer” — particularly if the claims are based on anecdotal accounts (i.e., testimonials).
And indeed, if you do an online search, you’ll find literally hundreds of testimonials from people claiming they either cured their own cancers by using colloidal silver, or were able to keep their cancers from spreading further by using colloidal silver.
But of course, anecdotal reports like those are not proof of effectiveness. You need clinical studies for actual proof. Yes, evidence-based medicine.
So clinical researchers have begun, in recent years, to study the potential anti-cancer benefits of colloidal silver and other forms of antimicrobial silver.
Indeed, in my latest book, Colloidal Silver and Cancer: a Surprising Look, I document and discuss a total of 50 different published clinical studies, all of which demonstrated silver to be effective against cancer cells or cancer tumors.
Here are links to articles published over the past few years on just a few of the clinical studies and medical reports I’ve found, demonstrating silver to be effective against cancer cells or tumors:
- Silver Kills Lung Cancer Cells and Slows Lung Cancer Tumor Growth
- Silver Induces Cervical Cancer Cells to Destroy Themselves
- Colloidal Silver Kills Human Breast and Liver Cancer Cells
- Is Nanosilver the Cure for Neuroblastoma Cancer?
- Silver Nanoparticles Stop Cancer Without Toxic Harm
- Silver Kills Some Cancer Tumors Better Than Chemotherapy, Says British Researchers
- Silver Nanoparticles Kill Colon Cancer Cells: 12 Studies
- Nanosilver Prevents (and Beats) Skin Cancer: New Studies
- Is Silver Clinically Effective Against Leukemia?
- Silver Nanoparticles Make Anti-Cancer Drugs More Effective
- Is NanoSilver the Answer to Ovarian Cancer?
Of course, skeptics who love to scream “snake oil” will point out that the clinical studies discussed in the above articles, in which silver was demonstrated to be effective against cancer cells, were almost all laboratory “test tube” studies in which silver was tested against cancer cells in a petri dish, and not in the human body.
And that’s true, although in some of the studies the silver was also tested against cancer tumors in animals, and found to be highly effective. In other words, like any other substance, first it’s tested in the lab, then in animals, and only afterwards is it tested on humans.
But to help quell the screams of “snake oil” from the skeptics, here’s a human trial published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Oncology, in which cancer specialists were astonished to watch as one of their patients cured his own head and neck cancer with homemade colloidal silver, after they’d sent him home to die:
When “Snake Oil” Works, Use It!
As you can see, if colloidal silver is indeed “snake oil,” then perhaps it’s time to be more like the Chinese and consider embracing it. If the clinical studies are right, it works. And there are reams of clinical data to prove it.
Indeed, at this link you can find over 100 clinical studies demonstrating the powerful antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral benefits of silver, along with other clinical studies demonstrating its anti-inflammatory benefits…immune boosting benefits…skin-healing benefits…and much more!
The only reason Big Pharma is working so feverishly to incorporate silver into their failing antibiotic drugs, and even into their cancer treatments, is that it works. Period. The proof is in the pudding.
So you can decide for yourself whether or not colloidal silver is “snake oil.” It’s a decision I can’t make for you. As for me and my household, however, colloidal silver is a daily dietary staple, and has been for several decades.
Learn More About Colloidal Silver
If you’d like to learn more, here’s a link to over 500 articles on colloidal silver and its many benefits:
Finally, here’s an article you might want to read explaining what real experts have to say about colloidal silver and its usage, v/s the online skeptics who routinely denigrate colloidal silver as “snake oil”:
In closing, I’ll leave you with the following quote from Dr. Joseph Weissman, M.D., board certified immunologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California Medical School:
“Today, many antibiotics are losing the battle with germs. Fortunately, the best germ killer, which was discovered over 2,000 years ago, is finally getting the proper attention from medical science – natural silver. I sincerely recommend that everyone have electrically generated colloidal silver in their home as an antiseptic, antibacterial and antifungal agent.“
Important Addendum: Where to Find Colloidal Silver
If you’re brand new to colloidal silver usage and are wondering where to buy it, it’s important to know that you can find it in just about any well-stocked health food store in America. It’s also available on Amazon and numerous other websites.
But it can be extremely expensive. In fact, because colloidal silver works so well against numerous forms of infection and disease, it has the highest price mark-up of any nutritional supplement in existence.
The amount of actual silver in a four-ounce bottle of colloidal silver is about five to 12 cents worth. (Yes, I said five to twelve cents.)
Yet because that small amount of silver is all it takes to decimate so many different kinds of infections, the manufacturers mark it up about 16,000%, charging a whopping $20 or $30 per bottle.
What’s more, manufacturers promoting the latest faddish colloidal silver product often charge far more per bottle – sometimes $35 to $50 for a tiny four-ounce bottle.
And people are more than willing to pay through the nose for these commercial colloidal silver products at health food stores because colloidal silver does indeed heal infections and prevent the spread of germs and disease faster and better than any other natural supplement on the planet!
So, commercially speaking, the retail price of colloidal silver at health food stores reflects its value to the consumer far more so than its true cost to produce. But here’s the good news:
Make Your Own High-Quality
Colloidal Silver for Pennies!
As I mentioned, typical health food store prices for colloidal silver can range from $20 to $30 for a tiny, four-ounce bottle.
But with a brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you can make your own safe, pure, high-quality micro-particle colloidal silver for about 36 cents a quart! In other words, you can make it at actual cost, just like the big colloidal silver bottlers do.
Compared to typical health food store prices, your first two one-quart batches literally pay for the entire cost of your new generator! Do you know of any other health product that literally pays for itself the very first few times you use it? The savings are absolutely astonishing!
In fact, by making your own high-quality colloidal silver with a brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you’ll be as close to having FREE colloidal silver as you can get, and for the rest of your life!
You’ll never have to pay those exorbitant health food store prices again!
The new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator is now the world’s #1 best-selling colloidal silver generator. Here are just a few reasons why you should own one…
- It pays for itself after your very first batch or two — your total cost to make your first one-quart batch is about 36 cents, compared to the $240 you’d pay at a health food store if you bought an equivalent amount (i.e., eight of those little 4-ounce bottles they normally sell for $30 apiece)!
- Safe, simple to operate…No special skills needed…You just set the handy timer, plug it in, walk away, and three hours later you have a perfect batch of therapeutic quality micro-particle colloidal silver…every time! Here’s a short pictorial demonstrating how astonishingly easy it is to use a new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge:
- Produces uncommonly small silver micro-particles as low as .8 nm. That’s a fraction of a single nanometer. Compare that to health food store colloidal silver which can contain silver particles as large as 200 nm to 1,000 nm (or even larger), and you’ll see why micro-particle colloidal silver is the very best there is! Smaller particles mean your body can absorb and utilize up to 99% of the colloidal silver you take, compared to maybe 30% or 40% with many health food store brands!
- Runs on standard household electricity, but uses less power than a tiny Christmas tree bulb – you won’t even see a blip on your electric bill!
- Produces uniform, crystal clear batches every single time that store for months, or even years, without losing potency!
- Cannot produce silver chloride or unsafe substances – you get pure, therapeutic-quality micro-particle colloidal silver every time!
Just read through some of the testimonials below to see for yourself how you’ll save literally thousands of dollars per year by making your own colloidal silver with your brand new Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge!
Customer Testimonials
Here’s what one customer recently wrote to tell us:
“Owning a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge has given us the luxury of being able to use high-quality colloidal silver any time we need it. And we never have to worry about the costs because it only costs a few pennies per quart to make! It is without a doubt the single-best money-saving appliance in my entire house!
Best of all, the machine is very easy to use, and easy to store. I was concerned about ease-of-use, but my fears were unfounded. After I got mine and used it, I immediately bought one and sent it to my 83 year old mom, and she uses it regularly as well.
Now that I have a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator, I can use colloidal silver for everything — disinfecting the kitchen sinks, countertops, and the cutting board… spraying the toilet bowls, and the bathroom countertops and sinks… spraying it on my toothbrush to prevent bacterial growth…rinsing my mouth with it to prevent cavities and gum disease…you name it.
I even put it in the laundry rinse cycle when I do my linens, towels and kitchen rags, so I don’t have to wash them as frequently. It really keeps them fresh, and there’s never any mold or mildew anywhere in our house.
I also put some in the cat’s water bowl each day, and the dog’s too. We use it in the bathtub for skin problems. And of course we drink it when our tummies are queasy, or when we feel a cold or flu coming on. We also gargle with it in order to get rid of sore throats, and sniff it up our noses to get rid of sinus problems.
My husband even sprays it on his hair in the mornings, and has completely eliminated his lifelong dandruff problem. And he sprays a little bit in his eyes from time to time, and now has no more recurrent problems with sties.”
— K. Sullivan, NM
And here’s what another happy customer wrote to say about the tremendous savings she’s achieved by no longer having to purchase her colloidal silver through health food stores:
“We make a quart of colloidal silver at least once a week with the Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from the Silver Edge. I finally sat down and figured out how much this machine has been saving us. By making our own colloidal silver we’ve saved $11,503.20 this year alone, compared to the cost of colloidal silver at our local health food store.
The cost for colloidal silver at our local health food store is $30 for a tiny four-ounce bottle. But with my Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator, I can make eight times that amount (i.e., a full quart) for about 35 cents total cost.
If I were to purchase a quart of colloidal silver at the health food store, which would be eight of those tiny, four-ounce bottles, the cost would be a whopping $240 (i.e., 8 x $30 = $240) compared to the 35 cents I now spend to make a full quart!
Here’s the breakdown of our costs to make a full quart of colloidal silver with our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator: It costs us about a dollar for a gallon of steam-distilled water at Walmart. So a quart of the steam-distilled water costs about 25 cents. And I estimate we use maybe a nickel’s worth of electricity and maybe another nickel’s worth of silver from the silver rods for every one-quart batch of colloidal silver we make. So that’s 35 cents a quart, all told, for each quart of micro-particle colloidal silver we make!
And frankly, considering how long the .999 fine silver rods have lasted (over a year and a half, so far, for the most recent set), I think it’s probably even cheaper than that. But it’s the lifetime savings we’ve experienced that’s just mind-boggling to me.
For example, we’ve had our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver unit for nearly five years now. And as I mentioned we make one quart per week, and we spend about 35 cents a week on making colloidal silver.
This means we save about $239.65 a week by not having to purchase a quart’s worth of colloidal silver at our local health food store. So do the math: In just one month, the savings is $958.60…in one year, the savings is $11,503.20…and in five years we’ve saved approximately $57,516.00!
When you put pencil to paper and figure it out, it definitely takes you by surprise. You just think ‘No way. I must have multiplied that wrong.’
But it’s true. The savings is legitimately well over $11,000 a year over health food store prices for colloidal silver, if you make and use a quart of colloidal silver a week like we do! And we reap that incredible savings from the very reasonable $250 investment we made in purchasing our Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator.
In their advertising literature, The Silver Edge says the unit completely pays for itself after your first couple of one-quart batches. But really, that’s quite an understatement when you realize the true extent of your savings!
Of course, once you start making your own colloidal silver with a Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you don’t really think about how much you’re saving compared to health food store prices, because it just becomes a normal part of your everyday life. But the savings is nevertheless astonishing when you reflect on it.
What’s especially nice is being able to produce a significantly higher-quality colloidal silver than what’s generally available to the public through health food stores, especially at such a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost.”
— Marie Wilkey, SC
The Bottom Line…
With a high-quality Micro-Particle Colloidal Silver Generator from The Silver Edge, you’ll never again have to pay exorbitant health food store or internet vendor prices for high-quality colloidal silver!
Indeed, your first batch or two will indeed completely pay for the entire cost of your generator, compared to health food store prices!
What’s more, you’ll be able to give colloidal silver away FREE to family members, friends and neighbors, because you’ll be making it — literally — for only a few pennies per batch!
Simply click on this link to learn more about this phenomenal new breakthrough in colloidal silver-making technology, including our current, time-limited, money-saving offers that can save you up to $100 if you act quickly and decisively!
Meanwhile, I’ll be back next week with another insightful article on colloidal silver….
Yours for the safe, sane and responsible use of colloidal silver,
Steve Barwick, author
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
Helpful Links:
FREE Colloidal Silver Safe Dosage Report
Colloidal Silver Secrets Group on Facebook
Make Your Own Colloidal Silver for Pennies
.999 Pure Silver Wire for Making Colloidal Silver
Subscribe to the Colloidal Silver Secrets Ezine
Videos on Making and Using Colloidal Silver
Real-Life Colloidal Silver Success Stories
Colloidal Silver Update (News & Views)
The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
The Colloidal Silver Secrets Video
Colloidal Silver Kills Viruses
Important Note and Disclaimer: The contents of this Ezine have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information conveyed herein is from sources deemed to be accurate and reliable, but no guarantee can be made in regards to the accuracy and reliability thereof. The author, Steve Barwick, is a natural health journalist with over 30 years of experience writing professionally about natural health topics. He is not a doctor. Therefore, nothing stated in this Ezine should be construed as prescriptive in nature, nor is any part of this Ezine meant to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice. Nothing reported herein is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The author is simply reporting in journalistic fashion what he has learned during the past 17 years of journalistic research into colloidal silver and its usage. Therefore, the information and data presented should be considered for informational purposes only, and approached with caution. Readers should verify for themselves, and to their own satisfaction, from other knowledgeable sources such as their doctor, the accuracy and reliability of all reports, ideas, conclusions, comments and opinions stated herein. All important health care decisions should be made under the guidance and direction of a legitimate, knowledgeable and experienced health care professional. Readers are solely responsible for their choices. The author and publisher disclaim responsibility and/or liability for any loss or hardship that may be incurred as a result of the use or application of any information included in this Ezine.
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