Colloidal Silver - A Necessity For Good and Bad Times

Reprinted with permission from: Preparedness Journal

You have food reserves to get you through an emergency. Some water. Probably some gold or silver. Maybe some defense weapons. But medical help will probably be no more available than food, and under these conditions, disease and infections will probably be rampant. Ordinary first aid supplies are obviously not enough.

But there is good news and its called "colloidal silver". From the time man first learned to work with silver he has known that it prevented the spread of disease. Thus the wealthy people had silver drinking cups, silver tableware and utensils. Even those who could have had gold, which does not tarnish, usually chose silver because it promoted health. In the days before refrigeration, farmers tossed a silver coin in a bucket of milk to preserve it. Chemists put a silver dime in their petri dish to sterilize it. For hundreds of years it was common practice to place a silver wire in an infected wound that refused to heal.

Eventually man learned to make silver nitrate and use it in wounds and drink it as an antibiotic. But silver nitrate is caustic and burns tissues much like iodine. Also, heavy use of silver nitrate accumulated in the skin turning it dark, a condition which became known as Argyria. Still, it was an effective treatment of disease and that was more important than Argyria

Almost every state in the union passed a law requiring every licensed doctor attending the birth of a baby to treat the babies eyes with silver nitrate. This eliminated blindness due to venereal disease which had been fairly common. Unfortunately, minor damage to the eyes from the silver nitrate is very common and blindness from too strong a dose of silver nitrate does happen.

In the early 1900's research proved silver to be effective against hundreds of pathogens of widely different kinds. Other silver compounds were used, which were not caustic and did flat cause argyria. Then it was found that smaller particles of silver could be produced by precipitating it out of chemical compounds of silver. These were more effective due to the fact that there were hundreds of times as many particles of silver from a given amount of silver.

Eventually it was learned that silver could be reduced down to its atomic size with a positive electrical charge by using an arc under water. This is called "Breddig’s Process." This now produced thousands of particles for each one that was produced by the best grinding. It also added a positive charge which increased its effectiveness noticeably more. Furthermore, no detrimental side effects have ever been shown. It did not cause argyria, even in prolonged large dosages. It was not caustic and instead promoted healing in general. No allergic reactions were ever reported. It was highly effective for most infections of every kind. This is known as "colloidal silver." It could be produced inexpensively, but brought a good price from those who needed it and did not know how to produce it. The word "silver" immediately brings the thought of "very expensive" to peoples minds.

But it did not keep well in warehouses and on drug store shelves because of its affinity for oxygen and its positive electrical charge which dissipated with age and the electrical charge proved to noticeably increase its effectiveness for most uses. Although pure colloidal silver is as clear as water, in the presence of oxygen it turns yellow and finally dark brown. Add a little light and it quickly turns black.

Then came penicillin and sulfa, which could be patented and were therefore well worth advertising. These were soon followed by continuous new antibiotics from the pharmaceutical companies. Each one is considered effective against certain pathogens, usually no more than half a dozen. Unlike silver, almost none of the antibiotics is effective against virus, yeasts or parasites.

The chemical antibiotics do keep well and they are usually as effective after long storage as when first produced. This, plus the fact that they could be patented, while silver could not, and therefore the producers could afford to promote them heavily, have been major factors in the general adoption of the antibiotics.

However, the antibiotics soon proved to have various side effects of varying degrees of danger. Some of the side effects are almost always experienced, while most only appear occasionally. But some of those occasional side effects are as serious as death. There are thousands of patients a year who die of an allergic reaction to penicillin, generally considered to be among the safest and most proven antibiotic. A frightening thing about this is that many of those deaths are to patients who have taken penicillin many times in their life and were not aware of any problem before.

Soon after the new antibiotics were introduced it was found that certain bacteria they were effective against developed an immunity to the antibiotic. Some developed an immunity very quickly, while others did so very slowly. Today many of the diseases that were thought to be easily treated by antibiotics are no longer treatable, even by new antibiotics. The researchers are running out of new replacements, leaving those diseases untreatable.

These problems now have the whole medical profession concerned, some to the point of panic. The March 28, 1994 issue of Newsweek featured a six page article, "Antibiotics, The End of Miracle Drugs?". The rise of drug resistant germs is unparalleled in recorded history", according to Newsweek. "Penicillin and tetracycline lost their power over staph back in the 1950’s and 6O’s. Another antibiotic, methicillin, provided a backup for awhile, but methicillin-resistant staph is now common in hospitals and nursing homes worldwide... trying to cripple bacteria’s defenses...will not do more than buy us five to ten years. . . A better strategy might be to abandon antibiotics altogether in favor of different kinds of drugs." How about abandoning drugs altogether in favor of the natural silver? (Some silver colloid is found in some foods naturally)

The September, 1995 issue of Time magazine featured an article titled "Revenge of the Killer Microbes". "Faced with AIDS, and with an ever increasing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, doctors were forced to admit the medical profession was actually retreating in the battle against germs. The question ceased to be, when will infectious diseases be wiped out? And became, where will the next deadly new plague appear? . . . Humanity once had the hubris to think it could control or even conquer all these microbes. But anyone who reads today's headlines knows how vain that hope turned out to be. New scourges are emerging-AIDS is not the only one. . . older diseases like tuberculosis are rapidly evolving into forms that are resistant to antibiotics, . . . In 1992, 13,300 hospital patients died of infections that resisted every drug doctors tried." (Some of these patients caught the infections in the hospital)

But Science Digest was way ahead of Newsweek and Time, in an article in March 1978; "Our Mightiest Germ Fighter". Science Digest already saw the problem and had the solution! In this article, Jim Powell stated: "Thanks to eye opening research, silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine. An antibiotic kills perhaps half a dozen different disease organisms, but silver kills some 650. Resistant strains fail to develop. Moreover, silver is virtually nontoxic."

The article further relates how Dr. Carl Moyer, Chairman of Washington State university’s Department of Surgery, received a grant to develop better treatments for serious burns. Dr. Harry Margraf was Dr. Moyer's chief biochemist on this project. With their staff of medical researchers they tested 22 antiseptic compounds and rejected them all. The problem was that infections in burns often tailed to respond to antibiotics. Most antiseptics have a very caustic nature, actually destroying the delicate new tissues and are very painful. The greatest problem was the bacterium Pseudomonas acruginose which is particularly infectious to burns and does not respond to any antibiotic or antiseptic.

It was found that silver had been used effectively for hundreds of years in one form or another to treat infection and unlike the newer antibiotics, silver had well proven itself to be totally non-toxic at all concentrations. In all the hundreds of years of use, no pathogen has ever developed an immunity to silver.

They tried silver nitrate which is used in babies' eyes. It proved to be corrosive and painful. It also stained everything badly and upset the bodies balance of body salts. Other compounds of silver were tried. Finally colloidal silver was proven to be the most effective, to have no side effects and the burns healed relatively fast with it. They then developed a salve from colloidal silver known as "Sulfadiazine", marketed under the brand name "Flamazine. Since then it has been the standard medication for burns. It has been proven to heal burns considerably faster and to greatly reduce scarring.

Another entirely unrelated line of research that guided the new thinking concerning the treatment of infections and especially wounds was published by research scientist, Dr. Robert O. Becker in his classic book "The Body Electric". Dr. Becker was researching ways to heal difficult broken bones, and especially the possibilities of growing whole new limbs to replace arms and legs too badly injured to save. While experimenting with the use of very small currents to stimulate growth, he found that silver electrodes were much more effective that any other metal and some of his experiments only worked with the silver. After considerable success in stimulating bone growth in animal experiments, Dr. Becker tried his new methods on a human patient, one who had no other choice but the amputation of his leg.

The mans' broken right tibia and fibula both refused to heal and there was a huge open wound with five kinds of infection after a year and a half of efforts by his doctors. Antibiotics were of no help. Dr. Becker states:

. . . 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. . . wrapped the leg, and connected the battery unit." About a week and a half later, Dr. Becker tells us: ". . . all of our bacterial cultures were sterile-all five kinds had been killed." The battery attached to the silver nylon produced colloidal silver, as Dr. Becker later explained. The colloidal silver quickly killed off all five kinds of bacteria the antibiotics had failed to kill in a year and a half.

Dr. Becker continues: "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 by 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 had expected the bone to start withdrawing before it started re-growing). "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."

Dr. Becker states on pg. 167; "of course, the germ-killing action of silver had been known for some time. . . the Soviets use silver ions (colloidal silver, editors note) to sterilize water aboard their space station . . . it kills even antibiotic-resistant strains, and also works on fungus infections."

These two developments suddenly started researchers all over the world looking at silver in a new light. UCLA ran tests on colloidal silver and reported: "The silver solutions were antibacterial for concentrations of 10 to the 5th power of organisms per ml of streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Neisseria gonorrhea, Gardnerella vaginalis, Salmonella typhi, and other enteric pathogens, and fungacidal for candida albacans, Candida globata, and M furfur."

Alfred Sean of Searl pharmaceuticals stated; Applying colloidal silver to human subjects has been done in a large number of cases with astonishing results. For internal administration, orally or hypodermically it has the advantage of being rapidly fatal to parasites without the toxic action on its host."

Then there are the actual results of many users of colloidal silver, perhaps not scientifically established, but authenticated by personal experience. For instance, Dr. Bjorn Nordstrom, of the Karolinsky Institute, Sweden has been using silver in his cancer treatments for many years. He says this brings rapid remission in patients given up by other doctors. How do we explain this? Some scientists speculate that cancer is caused by a virus, but no substantial evidence of this has been established, except in cats. Does silver cure cancer by attacking the virus that causes cancer? Probably not. Rather, it's curative qualities seem closer related to it strange ability to heal injured tissues without scarring. Cancer researcher Gary Smith says he has noticed a correlation between low silver levels and sickness. He found people who have low silver levels to be frequently sick and to have frequent colds, flu, fevers and other illnesses. He states. "Success (in cancer treatment) depends on silver in the person's body when silver is present, the cancer cells dedifferentiate and the body is restored. When silver levels are. . . non-existent, the cancer growth rate. . . continues. . . because the cells cannot dedifferentiate. . . . I suspect a silver deficiency is possibly one of the reasons cancer exists and is increasing at such a rapid rate."

A full list of the results of such experiments in some of the best medical laboratories in the world are too extensive to list here.

After extensive experiments with re-growth of body parts and the healing of bone, Dr. Becker was led into other experiments with colloidal silver. Among his experiments were the effects of silver on cancer. On pg. 178 of the Body Electric, Dr. Becker states ". . . silver, which when negative had no effect on, and when positive suspended, mitosis of cancer cells in our lab." It is the positive silver ion which we call colloidal silver (Ag+1). The colloidal silver stopped the cancer growth. Other metals did not. Dr. Becker was unable to obtain the funds to continue his promising cancer research. However, he did draw a personal opinion that the effective quality of colloidal silver in both the stimulation of bone, muscle and skin growth, was its ability to cause cells to dedifferentiate when needed, just as Dr. Gary Smith concluded.

All of this makes colloidal silver perfect for survival conditions. It has such a broad spectrum of effectiveness (practically all bacteria, virus, yeasts, molds, parasites) and at the same time has a miraculous healing quality. Most people taking it orally say they feel better and notice more energy. It even prevents plaque from forming on teeth. Therefore, an exact diagnosis is not required as with antibiotics. If the mouth is rinsed with one ounce daily and then swallowed, the plaque is stopped, gingivitis is soon healed, the breath is sweet, colds and flues are gone, candida is soon cleared up, yeast infections of the blood disappear, the immune system is restored! Internal surgeries heal much faster and with much less scarring!

But some of the best news is that now we have learned that colloidal silver can be produced very easily and very inexpensively electrically. The definition of "colloidal silver" is "one atom of silver with a positive electrical charge" and it is written Ag+l. With a modern, low cost colloidal silver generator, all that is required to produce the finest colloidal silver of known quality, concentration and freshness is to fill a bottle with distilled water, press a button, wait about half an hour until the generator signals it is done. It is then ready when you are.

Colloidal silver can be used orally, topically, by enema, douche, or by a doctor intravenously. The exact dosage is not critical because it is non-toxic at virtually all levels. However, common practice is to start orally with about one ounce a day at 20 parts per million as a maintenance dosage. When treating a chronic internal condition, that dosage could be doubled each day until a dosage of four ounces in the morning and four ounces in the evening at 20 parts per million is reached. Always watch for a rash breaking out on the skin when first taking colloidal silver. This is not an allergic reaction or a side effect in the common sense. It is usually caused by killing off yeast in the blood or intestines so fast that the body cannot properly dispose of them. It is a healthy sign but may be very uncomfortable due to itching. Furthermore, you do not want to overload the body's cleansing abilities. Therefore it is best to reduce the intake of colloidal silver when this occurs. when the rash disappears, as it normally does in a day or so, gradually increase it.

Colloidal silver is especially valuable in case of disaster as well as whenever camping or traveling because the water often cannot be trusted. One ounce of colloidal silver at 20 parts per million in one quart of water assures the safety of the water for drinking. It is the finest disinfectant known, being totally non-toxic and non allergenic as well an non-caustic. Used on the scalp, it stops most cases of itching. It is great for the hands and face and reduces skin wrinkling over a period of time. It heals warts (virus), athletes foot, and nail fungus. It effectively treats many skin rashes although some rashes get worse before getting better.

Colloidal silver is rapidly being adopted into several areas of agriculture. In a news release from Orem Utah, we read: "Mastitis has been curable for quite some time using antibiotics. The only problem was that during the cure, the cows often went off feed, sometimes suffering from a high fever, and their milk had to be thrown away. Not long ago, some dairy farmers in Wisconsin tried a new product (colloidal silver) that has had some astonishing results. Not only do the cows not go off feed when administered this product, their udders don't swell and they don't get high the fevers usually associated with mastitis. And the best part is that the milk doesn't have to be thrown away during treatment as with antibiotics."

In fact, when the dairymen found out what colloidal silver could do without any side effects a large segment of the dairy industry soon began wading the cows through pools of colloidal silver to and from each milking to cure the serious problem of hoof wart, changing the water daily and then began putting colloidal silver into all the drinking water. One dairyman called me wanting equipment to produce 33,000 gallons of colloidal silver a day! Farmers take better care of their livestock than they do their families.

Treating the soil around young plant roots makes them grow more vigorously and healthier. Spraying leaf fungus with colloidal silver is highly effective and very economical. Furthermore it does not leave any toxic residue on the plant or fruit and its effects are more lasting than most sprays.

Colloidal silver can be purchased from most health food stores for about $4 an ounce and for less by mail order However, much of what is sold for colloidal silver is actually mostly silver chloride. While silver chloride has anti-bacterial qualities, why not have the real thing? In case of crisis you will not be able to buy colloidal silver. Besides that, you can make your own for little more than the price of the water and you can make a better quality than you can buy and know it is fresh. You will also know the quality is good.

To make colloidal silver just put distilled water in the generator if distilled water is available. Different brands of generators are slightly different to use, but the main difference is the time it takes to produce a certain concentration. With battery operated generators follow the directions with the generator for time of treatment. It does not take long, so don't forget it. With an electronic generator just add the water, plug into the wall socket, set the concentration you want on the dial and press the start button, then forget it. When the run light goes out its ready and you can remove the finished silver when you are ready.

When buying a generator, check to see how much silver is in the electrodes; do the electrodes have to be carefully adjusted each time or are they built in place? Do you have to clamp the electrodes on with alligator clips or are the electrodes built in so as to take care of these problems? And if it is battery operated, check to see if the batteries are economical and widely available. Some use miniature high voltage batteries that do not last and are hard to find. Does the generator work without salt and without very careful adjustment? If it requires salt of tap water it will produce mostly silver chloride instead of colloidal silver. Generators that produce mostly silver chloride run very clean and very fast, but you really want colloidal silver, not silver chloride. A carefully designed generator will produce genuine colloidal silver clean up to about 80 parts per million before noticeable silver oxides begins to form. Should silver oxides (black deposits) form heavily in your generator the black will stick to the bottle and separate out easily. The black oxide can be easily wiped out when it is still wet. If it dries, wipe it out with some baking soda on a wet towel.

In selecting the right generator for you, several things should be considered. Are you primarily concerned with a generator that will be available when there is no electricity available, severe emergency conditions? If so you will want a battery powered generator. The standard 9 volt alkaline batteries are best as they last a long time and are easily obtained at a low price. The generator uses so little power that the life of the batteries is almost like setting on the shelf. However, it is wise to have some batteries other that those in the generator as a back up in time of emergency. If you are looking for a generator for dependable consistency of operation very easy operation and a known concentration of product, an electronic generator is the answer and is preferable for everyday use.

In treating contaminated water, you can make colloidal silver of satisfactory quality from the contaminated water. This colloidal silver can then be used to treat more contaminated water by using one ounce of the colloidal silver at 20 parts per million in a quart of water. This is dependably safe for all purposes. Don't go camping or to foreign countries without your colloidal silver.

If you don't have colloidal silver ready, YOU AREN'T PREPARED!