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FDA Cracks Down on Colloidal Silver Claims

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 30 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

has contacted a number of Internet retailers to caution them that touting

colloidal silver as a cure for conditions ranging from sunburn to the common

cold violates the agency's regulations.

The FDA this week made public four letters that it sent during March to

Internet distributors of colloidal silver. The new letters bring the total

for the year to nearly 20.

According to the agency, the retailers' claims about their colloidal silver

offerings establish the products as drugs, rather than dietary supplements.

And because the products have not undergone the FDA approval process for new

drugs, they are not in compliance with the law, the agency said.

Dietary supplements, which do not have to be approved by the FDA before

marketing, may make certain claims about their effects on a structure or

function of the body, but may not claim to prevent, diagnose, mitigate,

treat or cure a disease.

In addition, dietary supplements are by law ingestable products, and so

promoting colloidal silver in topical formulations for conditions like

sunburn, acne and rashes further invalidates the products' status as

supplements, the agency noted.

According to the FDA, one of the retailers cited, www.reach4life.com, was at

the time the letters were sent promoting a colloidal silver spray for acne,

sunburns and rashes; a gel lotion for cuts, scrapes and rashes; a liquid for

flu viruses, colds, ear and sinus infections and allergies; and a salve for

conditions including flu, colds and candida. Other retailers made a similar

array of claims.

The FDA noted that it does not have any information that the products are

safe and effective for the uses claimed by the retailers.

" FDA is aware that Internet distributors may not know that the products they

offer are regulated as drugs or that these drugs are not in compliance with

the law, " the agency said in its letters. " Many of these products may be

legally marketed as dietary supplements or as cosmetics if certain

therapeutic claims are removed from the promotional material and the

products otherwise comply " with legal and regulatory standards.

Among the Internet sites to receive letters from the FDA regarding colloidal

silver this year are Synergy Systems, Soul Healer, survival.com and

rawhealth.net.