>Anyone can be damaged by improper use of a safe product ..  you could
>damage yourself if you drank too much WATER, for heaven's sake.
 
That is true.  However, no one has yet proven to me that colloidal silver
is a "safe product."
 
>That doesn't make the product that you misused inherently unsafe, though.
 
Using a product outside of "recommended usage" can sometimes result in no
ill effects, that is true.  But doing so without an understanding of
exactly what that product does under the full range of its dose-response
curve is about as smart as playing "Russian Roulette" with a loaded
handgun.
 
In my pharmacology class I was taught that drug manufacturers set their
"recommended dose", etc, based on bell curves and percentages.  The
recommended dose isn't necessarily set to the level where it would gived
a maximum therapeutic effect, but to a level where the chances of someone
dying or suffering severe side-effects is relatively remote.  Therefore, if
you misuse a drug, you are wandering into the wilderland into which you
might see "interesting effects", potentially positive and potentially very,
very negative.  (That's my understanding of it, anyway; maybe one of you
vet students out there can give a better description.  I'm no expert in
pharmacology.)
 
Even well-known and widely accepted drugs like acetaminophen (used in meds
such as Tylenol and Vicodin) can be extremely dangerous when misused or
even taken for long periods at "safe" doses.  I'm sure makers of such drugs
don't want the public to realize how many liver transplants were
necessitated by use of their products.
 
And, argyria is just one KNOWN potential result of the use of silver
products.  If you had read my post which discussed other possible side
effects, you would know that some of these other side effects are not
nearly so "visible." Just because a ferret or a person's skin isn't
turning blue-grey doesn't necessarily mean they may be experiencing other
side-effects.
 
- Megan
[Posted in FML issue 2587]