Thank you, Zen (both of you), for the direct link to the FDA's whole
ruling.  I had found the ruling, but not all of the background information.
Doing medical or pharmacological research on the web is pretty complicated
and somewhat tiring, if you've never done it before--as I discovered last
night.
 
My findings: not a single clinical study has been reported in the last 25
years that shows the effectiveness of colloidal silver to fight diseases in
humans.  I might have missed a medical journal or two, but not many.  I
used Medline.  There are many references to silver, few to colloidal silver
specifically.  "Colloidal silver" is apparently a mumbo-jumbo term for any
of a number of different ways of making silver small and sticking it in
liquid.  They are almost certainly actually combinations of silver nitrate,
silver salts, and some kind of gelatin or other protein.  The current
generators which are sold to make your own with are essentially creating
silver nitrate and silver salts out of silver.  Silver itself is defined as
a toxic substance (Toxline for this one) and those who work with it daily,
including engravers and metalworkers, are advised to wear gloves and
protective eyewear to avoid ingesting too much of it.  Despite all the
manufacturer's slogans to the contrary, silver *is* bioaccumulative and has
been found in pretty nearly every tissue in the body, including brain
tissue (Toxline again--direct numbers and amounts submitted by many, many
doctors).  In small amounts, it seems harmless; in large amounts, it leads
to argyria.  No sigificant studies have been done regarding its impact on
other medications.  Also, contrary to one manufacturer's statement that
colloidal silver is excreted in urine and not bioaccumulated, it was found
by many different researchers that urine contains very little silver; it is
primarily excreted through feces, or retained in the body.  Most people
selling colloidal silver claim it does not accumulate; this is absolutely
false.  Also, I read that silver *does* kill many disease organisms, and is
*relatively* harmless; because of this, it's used to purify water
(including in Brita filters, according to one source!).  However, at least
one researcher pointed out that human blood and tissue is NOT water, and
that silver does not absorb well or quickly into the human bloodstream,
which makes it basically ineffective as far as killing disease INSIDE us
goes.
 
My conclusion is that this stuff is yet another snake oil.  I also checked
out the web sites of several companies that sell the stuff, read their
propaganda, and was disgusted.  Many of them quote organizations that don't
seem to exist, or "doctors" who have no published articles in any databased
medical journals.  I would love to post references for everyone, but I'd
need my own FML to do it, and for the most part I was weeding through
extremely scientific data--so I urge anyone who wishes to doubt me to go to
Medline or Toxline (I suggest http://igm.nlm.nih.gov/ as a starting point)
and search yourselves.
 
Until there are some clinical trials done, I'm not putting any quantities
of a toxic substance into my body, or my pets' bodies, especially when the
manufacturers willfully and knowingly spread lies and misinformation about
the products that they sell.  There have been many reported negative
effects of silver consumption, although argyria is the most common.  One
person said that most of the others are rare, because argyria is very
visible and people generally stop taking the stuff when they turn grayish
blue.
 
I did find a few book references, though I haven't been able to check them
out at this point (and probably won't--I'm well convinced already that this
stuff isn't for me).  I figured I'd post them for others who might be
interested.
 
1) Goodman LS, Gillman A. A Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics.  5th
   Edition. McMillan, 1975:930-931, 999-1000.
 
2) Greene RM, Su WPD.  Argyria.  American Family Physician, 36:151-154
   (Dec. 1987).
   -- This reference reportedly has color pictures of silver blue people.
 
3) Fung MC, Bowen DL.  Silver Products for Medical Indications: Risk
   Benefit Assessment.  Journal of Toxicology and Clinical Toxicology,
   34(1), 119-126 (Nov. 1996).
   -- A comprehensive review by FDA toxicolgists with 45 references.
 
Jen and the Crazy Business
[Posted in FML issue 3089]