Colloidal silver story from Montana

[Guest guest]

This news articles provides information on quite a few people who have

turned blue from ingesting colloidal silver.

regards,

BobK

>http://cityguide.greatfallstribune.com/fe/Medical/story.asp

>

>Coping with stress of Alzheimer's, dementia

>By RICHARD ECKE

>Tribune Staff Writer

>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

>----

>

> Ralph Bouma explains how he takes six hours and uses high voltage and

>pure, distilled water to make a stable colloidal silver at his Tri Silver

>operation in Conrad. (Tribune photo By Wayne Arnst)

>When Bruce's throat starts to get scratchy, she gargles with and

>swallows a mixture of water and tiny silver particles.

>

> " Hey, it works, " said Bruce, who lives on a farm northeast of Conrad. " It is

>an antibiotic that kills bacteria and things. "

>

>Colloidal silver helped Van Hierden of Lethbridge, Alberta, nearly

>wipe out his psoriasis, he said. Just a few blotches of the irritating skin

>disease remain on his leg.

>

>Van Hierden is convinced drinking two ounces of silver solution per day

>helps him.

>

> " There's no question about it, because I've gone off it three times and all

>three times my psoriasis came back, " the Canadian said.

>

>You won't find silver just in coins or jewelry anymore. Some people drink it

>and swear by its effects.

>

>Not everyone is enamored of silver concoctions, however, since in rare cases

>silver turns the drinker's skin a gray or blue color. Other than skin-color

>change, no serious harm has been found.

>

>Silver is one of the latest in a series of nutritional supplements and

>vitamins to capture the fancy of Americans who bought $16.8 billion worth of

>dietary supplements in 2000.

>

>Although labeled natural, supplements sometimes harm people, and the

>industry goes largely unregulated by the federal government.

>

> " I like to see freedom, " responded Ralph Bouma, who manufactures Tri Silver

>solution in a separate room of the Gospel Chapel church in Conrad. " If

>somebody wants to use silver, why bar it? Let's live in a free country. "

>

>The blue and the gray

>

>Bozeman's Stan made headlines running for U.S. Senate this fall, but

>he didn't get the attention for his Libertarian views.

>

>Instead, gained fame in the national media, including the Nov. 11 New

>Yorker magazine and major newspapers, because his skin turned blue.

>

> began taking his own homemade silver concoction in the late 1990s,

>concerned that supplies of antibiotics might run short at the century's

>turn. No crisis happened, but his skin turned from a normal color to bluish.

>

> " I noticed that my fingernails were turning blue, " he said.

>

> said his face looks pale only at times, such as indoors under powerful

>fluorescent lights. After an indoor election debate in Great Falls in

>October, told a Tribune editor his skin color was caused by ingesting

>silver.

>

>People drinking water laced with silver can be permanently disfigured. The

>Washington Poison Center in Seattle had never seen a case of silver

>poisoning, or argyria, in its 40 years of operation. Then, it saw five cases

>in less than two months, according to a study published in the October 2002

>issue of the journal Veterinary and Human Toxicology.

>

>Even silver critics admit the number of victims remain small. Anti-silver

>activist Rosemary s of Derby, Vt., estimates a few dozen people in the

>country have skin discolored by silver.

>

> " What bothers me is there shouldn't be one, " said s, whose own skin

>turned gray by age 14. She took nose drops with silver in them, prescribed

>by her medical doctor.

>

>s calls her own skin color gray or silver. ' skin has been called

>gray, blue or blue-gray.

>

> " This is all very subjective, " she said. " I've been called green. "

>

>Experts believe victims never regain their regular skin color.

>

>Conrad supplier

>

>One colloidal silver maker from Conrad turned his homemade operation into a

>Web business. Tri Silver in Conrad sells colloidal silver more cheaply than

>other sellers, according to Tri Silver owner Bouma.

>

>Bouma was ingesting colloidal silver for himself for health problems but

>found the mixture of water and silver to be pricey at $35 for four ounces.

>

>Tri Silver sells its silver solutions for less: 8 ounces for $10, 16 ounces

>for $15, and 32 ounces for $25. The largest bottle can last two weeks to a

>month for some users.

>

>Bouma's product is created using equipment that zaps the silver solution

>with " 15,000 volts for six hours, " he said.

>

>Silver is suspended in the water thanks to the high voltage used, Bouma

>said.

>

> " There is absolutely no danger of any side effects from that, " he added. " We

>make a product that's safe. "

>

>Bouma is licensed by the state of Montana as a food purveyor. He said he

>sells colloidal silver not to get rich but to make it affordable for people.

>

>He is pastor of the nondenominational Gospel Church in Conrad.

>

>According to Bouma, ' skin turned color because the Bozeman man used a

>do-it-yourself silver system that left large particles of silver in the

>water he drank.

>

>Bouma contends the Tri Silver solution, made with much higher voltage,

>allows the silver to be suspended in water for as long as five years.

>

>Properly suspended silver won't turn skin gray, he said.

>

> " All forms of silver have caused argyria, " s explained.

>

>Bouma makes sure not to make claims about colloidal silver himself, although

>his Web site contains testimonials from customers.

>

>The nonprofit group Public Citizen wants silver manufacturers to conduct

>scientific studies to test whether silver solutions have any benefits or are

>safe.

>

> " These guys have to put up or shut up, " said spokesman Larry D. Sasich.

>

>Bouma said scientific testing can cost millions of dollars.

>

>Expert views

>

>Silver has been used medicinally off and on through human history, but many

>scientists and doctors in recent years have discouraged drinking of silver

>solutions.

>

>Silver does have some value outside the body, according to s.

>

> " Silver is a disinfectant, " she said. " It's like Clorox. "

>

>And silver nitrate solution still is routinely dropped into the eyes of

>newborns to stave off gonorrhea, a venereal disease.

>

>But drinking silver solutions has no proven benefits, s said.

>

>Silver potions get little respect from medical professionals. Three

>physicians with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wrote the Journal of

>the American Medical Association in 1995, saying silver backers make

>outlandish claims.

>

> " Contrary to these promotional claims, silver is not an essential mineral

>supplement and has no known physiologic function, " wrote Drs. Debra L.

>Bowen, Man C. Fung and Weintraub. " The use of silver products as

>germicidals has chiefly been replaced. " Claims that silver helps treat

>tuberculosis or malaria, or prevents cancer, AIDS or diabetes, " remain

>unproven, " they said.

>

>Researchers with the Washington Poison Center in Seattle agreed after five

>people in their area turned up with argyria, or silver poisoning.

>

> " Silver is not a desirable therapeutic agent, " they said in a paper

>published last month.

>

>Some natural practitioners steer people away from it as well, including

>Arizona holistic health guru Dr. Weil.

>

>Some audacious claims about silver have drawn anti-fraud action from the

>Federal Trade Commission. ForMor Inc. of Conway, Ark., and its president,

>Stan Gross, claimed colloidal silver was effective in treating more than 650

>infectious diseases, including arthritis, blood poisoning, cancer, cholera,

>diphtheria, diabetes, dysentery, gonorrheal herpes, influenza, leprosy,

>lupus, malaria, meningitis, rheumatism, shingles, staph infections, strep

>infections, syphilis, tuberculosis, whooping cough and yeast infections. "

>

>In a settlement, ForMor agreed to offer refunds to colloidal silver

>customers.

>

> " The FDA has actually banned the sale of colloidal silver for any medicinal

>purpose, " Sasich noted. An August 1999 FDA final rule said " over-the-counter

>drug products containing colloidal silver or silver salts are not recognized

>as safe and effective and are misbranded. " Silver in food supplements

>continues to be sold, however.

>

> " That's what you've got to tell your readers, " Sasish added. " They're on

>their own. "

>

>The silver side

>

> W. Apsley, president of Sovereign Silver manufacturer

>Natural-Immunogenics Corp. in Miami, maintains silver has a strong track

>record.

>

> " It's very, very powerful, " said Apsley, a doctor of chiropractic who said

>he also holds an offshore medical degree. Yet silver is remarkably safe,

>except for a " small group of sick people " who happened to acquire argyria,

>he said. Apsley said of several million people who used silver in some form

>from 1910 to 1940, only about 300 cases emerged of argyria, which he called

> " an extraordinarily benign condition. "

>

> " That's an impressive safety record, " he said.

>

>That compares with an estimated 100,000 Americans who die each year from

>overdoses, interactions and other problems caused by prescription drugs, he

>noted.

>

>Silver may discolor people but is relatively safe, both sides agree.

>

>Whether it's a great cure-all is the controversy.

>

>Few studies are readily available to show how silver works in the human

>body.

>

>In one Brigham Young University study released in May 2000, researchers said

>a colloidal silver solution was as effective as several antibiotics in

>killing various infections in test tubes.

>

>But Professor Alan R. Harker, chairman of BYU's Microbiology Department,

>noted last week, " The studies did not involve human subjects or actual

>disease. Thus, the conclusions of this study cannot shed any light on the

>efficacy of colloidal silver as a substitute for accepted antibiotic

>treatment. To draw a different conclusion is an extraordinary and

>scientifically unsubstantiated leap of imagination. "

>

>Apsley claimed there is plenty of evidence supporting silver.

>

> " We are standing on a mountain of scientific evidence, " he said.

>

>He said " tens of peer reviews " show silver is effective inside the body,

>including thwarting " unstoppable dental infections. " He said he plans to

>post 500 or more peer-reviewed papers on silver on the company's Web site.

>

>Apsley cited 183 studies for the Tribune, but most of those looked at silver

>as a disinfectant, used on the surface of the skin or implanted, rather than

>drunk in a solution.

>

>Apsley said it would be difficult for supplement companies to do their own

>research showing how colloidal silver works.

>

> " You'd have to invest tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, " he

>said.

>

>Supplements have tremendous grass-roots support, and companies should be

>allowed to continue to sell their products, he said.

>

> " The business of America is business, " Apsley said.

>

>Epithets and lost jobs

>

>s, 60, said silver can build up inside the body and bond chemically

>with people's sweat glands. The silver then shows through the skin, creating

>a gray or bluish tint.

>

>No one wants to go through what argyria suffers must endure, she said.

>

>Because of the ghost-like color of her face, s sometimes is the target

>of rude remarks.

>

> " I've been called names in the street, " she said.

>

>But s doesn't cower.

>

> " I just happen to have a very obnoxious, aggressive personality, " she said.

> " If you call me a name in the street, I'll call you a name back. "

>

>s, 60, once was studying at the University of Madrid in Spain, when she

>was booted from a rooming house when Spaniards assumed she had a disease.

>She found another place.

>

>While in Spain, a passer-by remarked " how ugly you are. " On a streetcar in

>Germany, a stranger called her " really disgusting. "

>

>In Colorado once, s applied for a job as a hotel maid, but didn't tell

>the hotel manager she had gray skin.

>

> " He took one look at me and said, 'The job is filled,' " she recalled. She

>got a job at another hotel, but eventually was fired. Hotel management was

>afraid she might scare customers.

>

>s, a retired schoolteacher, said other silver-colored people have

>become recluses out of embarrassment.

>

>She never married and thinks argyria may have been a reason.

>

>s may be the world's only activist shouting to the rooftops, or to

>other computer screens, about the dangers of silver. Her comments through

>her Web site have prompted rancor from people who think silver is helpful.

>

> " They've threatened me, " s said. " They call me names. "

>

>But she keeps on, undeterred.

>

> " If my doctor had read the medical literature instead of the ads I wouldn't

>look like this today, " she said. Her Web site - www.together.net/~rjstan/ -

>complains about " silver fraud. "

>

>Apsley criticizes s, however.

>

> " She's not a scientist, " he said.

>

> " He isn't a scientist, either, " she retorts.

>

>Long run

>

>Some people turn to supplements when conventional medicine does not help.

>Some take a cynical view of the medical establishment.

>

> " The medical profession, of course, is against it, " Van Hierden said,

>explaining doctors make no money from supplements.

>

>s doubts the federal government could successfully ban colloidal silver

>solutions, since people can make their own at home.

>

> " The government can't ban batteries and silver rods, " she said.

>

>Bouma thinks silver is getting picked on, even though it does not threaten

>anyone's life.

>

> changed color because of silver, Bouma conceded, but " it didn't kill

>him. He just turned gray from it. "

>

>Bouma said he knows medical doctors who suggest their patients take

>colloidal silver. The physicians do not want to be named.

>

> " (Silver) has benefited thousands of people and has hurt a few, " Bouma said.

> " Why are we making such an issue of silver? "

>

>Bouma said people unsure about colloidal silver can talk to their doctors

>about it.

>

>He will continue to bottle the silver solution.

>

> " To me, it's a ministry, " the pastor said.

>

>Even , no fan of government intervention, wishes he had investigated

>silver more thoroughly.

>

> " I should have read more about it, " he said. " I was too arrogant and

>self-confident. "

>

> has no plans to take more silver, unless the country undergoes

>biological attack. Then he likely would take more, he said.

>

>s is happy admitted silver discolored him.

>

> " I don't think we'll ever get rid of remedies, but eventually, " she

>predicted, " the public's going to wise up. "